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TSN Toronto Maple Leafs Reporter

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TORONTO – Mike Babcock knew the questions were inevitable.

The Maple Leafs’ head coach still has two teams’ worth of players at his disposal in training camp, but ahead of Monday’s preseason game against the Montreal Canadiens he chose to assemble a roster that looked tantalizingly close to regular season ready.

But for anyone assuming the battle for roster spots – specifically at fourth-line centre and on defence – is over, Babcock’s message was clear: think again.

"This is what I knew would happen today, don’t go there,” he said, cutting off a reporter’s question about players in the lineup. “There’s a whole bunch of guys in these battles, but [newcomers Calle Rosen and Miro Aaltonen] get the first opportunity with the big club. How’s that?”

Monday’s game will be the first time this preseason that the Leafs top three lines, centred by Auston Matthews, Tyler Bozak and Nazem Kadri, will play in the same game. Aaltonen got the call over veteran Dominic Moore between Matt Martin and Connor Brown on the fourth line, while Rosen will slot into the only open top-six defence slot next to Connor Carrick.

With Frederik Andersen starting in net, and possibly going the distance, Babcock will get a sense of how this group fares against an NHL player-heavy Canadiens team. Babcock spoke with his former Olympic assistant Claude Julien on Sunday to ascertain what the Leafs could expect and made personnel decisions accordingly.

Julien revealed Montreal will be dressing many of its top guys in Toronto, including Max Pacioretty, Tomas Plekanec, Brendan Gallagher and Karl Alzner.

“If he brings an AHL roster today and I play an NHL team, do I get anything out of the game? No,” Babcock said. “So why not have a similar type of teams so you can evaluate the rosters? There’s some guys [who have made] the team, we all know that, but there’s a lot that’s very unclear yet.”

What is clear is that the Leafs are inching towards the regular season with the same problem they’ve had since July – a limited number of spots available for an abundance of talent up front.

Young players eager to make the jump from the AHL, like Kasperi Kapanen, or players like Josh Leivo and Eric Fehr trying to avoid last season’s fate of being a regular healthy scratch, can do the math. Not being a part of Monday’s game group isn’t a ringing endorsement for what their futures may hold.

“There are too many players here for the 23 spots that are NHL capable,” Babcock said. “We still have a number of jobs that are [being] battled for. I met with a few guys today who are really in the battle for jobs and just let them know – you're in a battle. Here it is."

Aaltonen and Rosen were two players on the bubble coming into training camp, but both have impressed in exhibition play.

Rosen played his second game on Saturday in Buffalo, and was deemed “real solid” by Babcock in a one-assist performance, while Aaltonen’s speed and determination in evolving from an offence-first mindset into more of a defence-minded centre has stood out.

Babcock has deferred any questions about expectations for Moore or assessing his play, sticking to the line that he’s in a competition for a job, which could be a sign of its own about where he stands in relation to Aaltonen.

“It’s not something you can focus on,” Moore said. “Focus on things…in terms of getting prepared as best I can and getting acclimatized to [new] things and the way the team plays. You come to a new organization, new team, new faces, new systems. It’s not something I haven’t been through before, but at the same time it takes time to kind of get comfortable in that.”