Toronto Maple Leafs Update: Captaincy and Training Camp

Over the course of the NHL season I will have weekly updates on the Toronto Maple Leafs every Friday. This week I would like to talk about two things: the Leafs' captaincy situation and training camp.

On any NHL team, captaincy is one of the most important things. However, on the Maple Leafs it means more than just wearing the "C" and it means more than being one of the most popular players on the team.

The captain on the Toronto Maple Leafs needs to be able to withstand the pressure of the Toronto media. The captain also needs to be able to lead, guide, and teach this team how to get to the Stanley Cup Finals, a task Mats Sundin would have been able to do if JFJ wasn't in charge for as long as he was.

With all of that being placed on the captain of the boys in blue, it looks like that there is no player on the current roster that could really take that extra letter on their jersey, and run with it.

Nik Antropov? No. Sure, Antropov has shown that he is one of the top players on the Maple Leafs, along with Hagman, but that doesn't mean anything. Antropov just doesn't appear to be ready to be the leader of an NHL team. In the next couple years, maybe after he gets about four seasons in him, someone like Luke Schenn could become captain.

Right now, however, it looks like the Maple Leafs' best choice would be either Kaberle, Hagman, or Jamal Mayers. Mayers is a second- or third-line grinder that has had enough experience in the pro level to make the jump. Kaberle, just one year older than Hagman, could provide the very same thing, while showing the young forwards how to play a well-rounded game. Mayers is four years older than Kaberle and has five years on Hagman.

Now I would like to move onto the training camp part. The Maple Leafs just announced their training camp roster. Unfortunately, I do not have the correct software on my computer to open the file. Something that I can talk about, however, is that the Maple Leafs ended their rookie tournament with a 1-2 record, their only win coming in the final game.

The scoring began with Dale Mitchell, who scored the first and last goals in the game. Stefano Giliati scored second and Jurjaj Mikus scored third, as the Maple Leafs defeated the Florida Panthers, 4-0.

Unfortunately, Nikolai Kulemin was not at the tourney.