Byron Froese, William Nylander, Brendan Leipsic, Kasperi Kapanen, Zach Hyman, Viktor Loov, Garret Sparks, Rinat Valiev, Nikita Soshnikov, Connor Brown and now, Tobias Lindberg.
That is the unique group of players Toronto has unified this season, in that all have made their NHL debuts during the ’15-16 campaign.
The latest, Lindberg, will draw in tonight when the Leafs take on the Sabres in Buffalo.
Lindberg, 20, was part of the package acquired in the Dion Phaneuf-to-Ottawa trade, and was recalled from the AHL earlier this morning. The Sens’ fourth-round pick in 2013, Lindberg racked up 12 points in 19 games with the Marlies before getting his break in the bigs.
Tobias Lindberg said he was so nervous this morning that he struggled to even kick the soccer ball around during the pre-skate warm-up
— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) March 31, 2016
Timing is everything ! Tobias Lindberg's (9) family is flying over today from Sweden for a visit. They get to see him make his NHL debut.
— Paul Hendrick (@HennyTweets) March 31, 2016
It’ll be interesting to see if the 6-foot-3, 215-pound Swede can keep the good times (or, depending on how you look at them, bad times) rolling in Toronto. The club is on a bit of a streak, having gone 7-4-0 in its last 11 -- and while that’s probably a good thing for the development of some of these young players, it’s not great for the club’s draft lottery odds.