Maple Leafs sent 2013 first-rounder to minors as part of training-camp cuts

TORONTO — Coach Mike Babcock wanted to work with just two teams at training camp, so the Toronto Maple Leafs wasted no time making cuts.

The Leafs reduced their roster to 46 players by sending forwards Frederik Gauthier, Josh Leivo, Brendan Leipsic and Casey Bailey to minor-league camp and reassigning defencemen Travis Dermott and Andrew Nielsen and forward Dmytro Timashov to their junior teams.

Gauthier was Toronto’s first-round pick in 2013 but is a prospect from a former regime, as are the other three players sent to the American Hockey League’s Marlies.

Leivo was a Brian Burke draft pick, while Dave Nonis acquired Leipsic in a trade last season and signed Bailey out of Penn State University.

The new regime, led by president Brendan Shanahan, GM Lou Lamoriello and lieutenants Kyle Dubas and Mark Hunter, has shown it’s unafraid to cut ties with prospects from the Nonis and Burke eras.

Last week Lamoriello sent a handful of them, notably defenceman Matt Finn and forward Carter Verhaeghe, to the New York Islanders for winger Michael Grabner.

Grabner is one of 26 forwards left in camp, along with Curtis Glencross, Brad Boyes and Devin Setoguchi, who are on professional tryout agreements.

There are 15 defencemen left, including veteran Mark Fraser, who’s on a tryout.

None of the junior assignments were surprising, though Dermott was a second-round pick in June.

Stephen Whyno, The Canadian Press