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Glencross: ‘Kind of a shock’ to get cut by Leafs

Travis Ewanyk Curtis Glencross

Travis Ewanyk Curtis Glencross

AP

To hear Curtis Glencross explain it, getting axed from Toronto’s training camp came as a surprise.

“It was kind of a shock,” Glencross explained, per the Calgary Sun. “They told me Sunday they had too many guys filling the same roles in the same spots.

“Instead of stringing me along, they let me go, so there was a chance someone else could get me.”

Now in Avs camp on a PTO, Glencross isn’t spending much time trying to figure out what went wrong in Toronto. It could be argued he never got a legitimate shot -- playing just two exhibition games, never skating on anything higher than the third line -- and that might raise some questions, given what transpired in Toronto on Monday.

Following a listless 4-0 loss to Buffalo, new head coach Mike Babcock criticized his veteran forward group.

“We’ve got to get our veterans playing the right way,” Babcock said, per TSN. “That’s the bottom line. We’ve got to get them playing. We can talk about kids; that’s a nice sideline story in exhibition but you’ve got to get your players to play.”

It’s fair to say Glencross, a 32-year-old veteran with over 500 games of NHL experience, did things the right way in his brief cameo.

In Saturday’s 1-0 loss to Montreal, he led all Leafs forwards with 5:03 of shorthanded ice time, and the team went 6-for-6 on the penalty kill.

Now with that said, it’s worth noting Babcock’s biggest criticism was with Toronto’s top veteran forwards, saying “our good players were good enough, not even close.”

Glencross wasn’t ever in that group.