from Kristen Shilton of TSN,

Two days removed from opening night, the Toronto Maple Leafs are primed to start the season with as many as six NHL rookies on the roster.

A 30th place finish, an NHL draft lottery win and an Auston Matthews selection later, the new-look Leafs will make their debut Wednesday in Ottawa. As of Monday afternoon, the roster sits at 25; they’ll have to get to 23 by Tuesday at 5 p.m. Assuming there are no major surprises, Matthews will join Mitch Marner, Connor Brown, Zach Hyman, William Nylander and Nikita Zaitsev in the group of NHL rookies the organization hopes will blossom for years to come.

“To me, there’s no difference right now, whether you’re a first-round pick or a second-round pick, or a seventh-round pick; if you’re playing here in the NHL, you’re all looked upon in the same light,” said general manager Lou Lamoriello. “And then it’s up to them to grab this opportunity, which could never come again where there are openings as there are. Intentionally it was done this way, with the process of last year.”

Having this many kids around is uncharted territory for Lamoriello and head coach Mike Babcock.

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