The Devils plucked the 18-year-old with the 12th overall selection after he enjoyed a strong sophomore season with the Mississauga Steelheads of the Ontario Hockey League, tallying 21 goals and 61 points in 57 games.
The Devils recently assigned McLeod to the Steelheads, where he has three assists through two games. He contributed one goal In two preseason games with the Devils.
If it were based on the performances through the preseason alone, the Toronto Maple Leafs would bring a roster chock-full of rookies and other young players of limited experience to opening night.
But many more factors are considered when it comes to roster selection, and head coach Mike Babcock was quick to remind reporters of that Friday in advance of the team's final cuts.
"In my history in the league I've rushed some players the odd time and then they end up back in the minors and to me that's counter-productive," he said, according to Jonas Siegel of the Canadian Press.
"So we don't want to err on the over-excited side. We want to err, I think, on the cautious side. And if we make a mistake at the start of the year (those players are) allowed to change your mind over 20 games in the American League and get back. To me, that's the right mistake not the other way around."
Though music to the ears for the likes of Brandon Prust - who's trying to earn a contract in camp - and Roman Polak - who's competing for minutes with Nikita Zaitsev, Connor Carrick, and Frank Corrado - Babcock will, to an extent, have to manage this risk.
Toronto's third unit to start is expected to be Auston Matthews centering a combination of kids from a group that includes the likes of William Nylander, Zach Hyman, Mitch Marner, and Connor Brown.
The 26-year-old blue-liner will miss four-to-five weeks with a lower-body injury, general manager Ron Hextall announced Friday.
The injury is ill-timed for Del Zotto, who missed the final 28 games, and the first round of the playoffs, last season due to a wrist injury.
Del Zotto suited up in 52 games for the Flyers last season, recording 13 points.
The hole left in the Flyers' blue line from Del Zotto's injury should all but guarantee Ivan Provrov - the seventh overall selection in the 2015 draft - a roster spot.
A video posted by Alexander Ovechkin (@aleksandrovechkinofficial) on
Alex Ovechkin is a far better hockey player than he is a golfer.
The Washington Capitals star hit the links with some of his teammates on Thursday, and shared an Instagram video of him trying to tee off ("trying" being the key word). After whiffing on his first two attempts, Ovechkin eventually connected and went all-out with his celebration.
Harrison Browne will make history Friday when the Buffalo Beauts and Boston Pride begin their NWHL seasons, becoming the first transgender athlete in professional North American team sport.
Harrison, born as Hailey Browne in 1993, has identified as a man with friends, family, and teammates at varying stages beginning in university, but decided to make it official in advance of this season, notifying the NWHL.
The league is now working on creating a policy to include transgender athletes but, regardless, is fully accepting of Browne, and his position on a women's professional team.
"At the end of the day, Harrison is the same player he was last year," NWHL commissioner Dani Rylan told ESPN. "We're here to support him. It's really not a big deal when you look at it, we're respecting his name, the pronouns and his request to be his authentic self."
Browne planned to transition medically, but is postponing that until his career in the NWHL is over.
Following his "very poor camp" in the eyes of Sportsnet's Mark Spector, Reinhart has been sent to Bakersfield to start the season in the American Hockey League.
Reinhart, acquired for first- and second round picks at the Connor McDavid draft, made the Oilers out of camp last season, but was soon demoted.
He dressed in a total of 29 games, collecting an assist and 20 penalty minutes, while throwing 62 hits.
theScore is previewing each team leading up to the 2016-17 season.
The Carolina Hurricanes are in a rebuild which, after last season, appears to be heading in the right direction.
The club boasts a very young squad, but managed to exceed expectations by finishing 10 points out of the playoffs. The offseason saw them add some experience in Lee Stempniak and Bryan Bickell, while locking up young talent in Teuvo Teravainen, leaving them in good stead for the future.
Here is how the team should stack up this season:
Forwards
LW
C
RW
Jeff Skinner
Jordan Staal
Andrej Nestrasil
Joakim Nordstrom
Victor Rask
Lee Stempniak
Sebastian Aho
Elias Lindholm
Teuvo Teravainen
Bryan Bickell
Jay McClement
Viktor Stalberg
Don't be surprised if any number of young players are able to snag a bottom-six spot, especially Sergey Tolchinsky.
Defense
LD
RD
Jacob Slavin
Justin Faulk
Noah Hanifin
Brett Pesce
Haydn Fleury
Ron Hainsey
Ryan Murphy should challenge for a full-time roster spot, as he always seems to. As is the case with the forwards, the Hurricanes are young enough overall that positions in the bottom pairing could be earned by rookies.
Goalies
G
Cam Ward
Eddie Lack
The Hurricanes somewhat surprising move to re-sign Cam Ward means the club will go into the season with the same goaltending duo that had the 35th- and 47th-best save percentages of goalies with 25 games played last season.
After disappointing management with an underwhelming development camp, Chabot has opened the eyes of head coach Guy Boucher over the course of a strong preseason.
While he remains on the roster with one preseason game to go, Boucher is still looking for a few key things from the 19-year-old defenseman before he cements a spot on the Senators blueline.
"He still needs to show us defensively that he can be thrown on the ice. We don’t want to be closing our eyes every time he goes on the ice. That's the thing. He's a great player, very smart, great speed, he can transition the puck exactly the way you want in the NHL," Boucher told Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen.
"With him, and you saw it again this morning, I’m pushing him. We're not treating him like a kid. We don't want kids. We want players who are ready. So if he's young, he needs to be ready. Right now, he's shown us a lot of good stuff and that's why he's still here, but camp's not over."
Boucher praises Chabot's offensive vision, but urges the need for intensity while defending against NHLers.
Chabot will have one more chance to prove his worth, as the Senators wrap up their preseason docket Friday versus Buffalo.
The IOC has outlined a target date for the NHL, and its pending decision on player participation at the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
"There is a date set at Jan. 15 to find an agreement," IOC executive director Christophe Dubi told the Associated Press.
"Until then it will be work between all parties involved to make sure that we get the participation of the very best, and that's for both Pyeongchang and Beijing (host of the 2022 games)."
While the NHL has tempered expectations, the IOC is becoming increasingly hopeful. Dubi called the NHL's decision to pay an inspection visit later this month "reassuring," and a "very positive step" toward hosting a best-on-best tournament that's objectively most important in the minds of players and fans.
The Metropolitan Division featured both the Presidents' Trophy and Stanley Cup winners last season, and the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins appear set to be serious contenders once again in 2016-17.
The New York Rangers have ranked among the top teams in the division for the past several seasons, but they appear stuck somewhere between the past and the future.
While a few other clubs - Philadelphia, New Jersey, and Carolina come to mind - are on the rise, one team in particular jumps out as able to join Washington and Pittsburgh in the top three.
Let's rank them, shall we?
1. Pittsburgh Penguins
Washington may have had a 16-point advantage over Pittsburgh in the division standings last season, but the Penguins get the edge here based on eliminating the Capitals en route to an eventual Cup win.
The emergence of Matt Murray over the course of the postseason gives head coach Mike Sullivan two bona fide starting goalies, with Marc-Andre Fleury eager and motivated to show he's still a core member of the team.
The Penguins will also continue to roll out four lines capable of giving the opposition fits shift in and shift out, and a defensive corps capable of pushing the puck out of the zone after locking things down in front of whoever's in net.
Yeah, this team's got it going on.
2. Washington Capitals
Still, the Capitals posted far and away the best record in the division, and finished the season 11 points ahead of the team with the second-best record league-wide, that being the Dallas Stars.
Washington will ice basically the same team that ranked second in both goals for and against, a testament to an overall proficiency at both ends of the ice.
Management chose not to tinker after another failed bid at a long playoff run, save for the additions of Lars Eller and Brett Connolly. It's safe to say, then, that general manager Brian MacLellan believes in his core group built around Richard Trophy winner Alex Ovechkin, star centre Nicklas Backstrom and Vezina Trophy winner Braden Holtby, and the Capitals will be swinging for the fences in hopes of coming out on top when it matters most.
3. New York Islanders
Despite the losses of Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo in free agency, the New York Islanders are still primed to be one of the top three teams in the division, thanks in part to the decline of the rival Rangers.
John Tavares is a perennial MVP candidate and, at 26, entering the prime years of his career. And while the addition of Andrew Ladd will help buffer Okposo's departure, the forward ranks will be bolstered from within by the likes of Ryan Strome and Anders Lee.
The Islanders also boast a deep defensive unit, and Jaroslav Halak's play for Europe at the World Cup inspired confidence in his big-game ability.
If youngsters like Matthew Barzal and Ryan Pulock can make positive contributions, the Islanders could surprise those who thought they'd be weakened by key losses.
