One Thing Immediately Noticeable About the Maple Leafs at Camp

While fans get ready for the preseason games to start this weekend, a lot of the focus is how the Toronto Maple Leafs are going to look after all the new changes they made this past summer.

Out went names like Mitch Marner, Pontus Holmberg and Ryan Reaves; in came new faces like Matias Maccelli, Dakota Joshua, and Nicolas Roy. Other signings like Michael Pezzetta were also brought in to bring an extra layer of toughness and grit to their depth.

But above all else, one thing seems to stand above the rest in the early stages of training camp.

Literally.

It wasn't lost on everyone recently that the Maple Leafs added a ton of size to their ranks, with a lot of added weight to the lineup in order to bring an air of intimidation to the lineup.

Looking at the names brought in and their sizes; it's pretty easy to see there was one clear goal in mind.

Dakota Joshua - 6'3, 218 pounds

Nic Roy - 6'4, 201 pounds

Michael Pezzetta - 6'2, 223 pounds

Add that on top of names like Auston Matthews, Matthew Knies, Brandon Carlo, Steven Lorentz, Simon Benoit and Chris Tanev as all players who are 6'3 and above.

Even Toronto's goaltending is gigantic, with both Joseph Woll and Anthony Stolarz at 6'3 and 6'6 respectively; oh and Dennis Hildeby is 6'7.

Couple that with how Toronto drafted this past summer and there's a clear direction and initiative to get bigger, stronger and tougher; and knowing that Craig Berube has a lot more control of the team now with Brendan Shanahan out of the picture, it's obvious as to why they brought in who they did.

Much like Berube talked about recently, the key to winning in the NHL is be tough both mentally and physically, so bringing in players who have both the mental fortitude and ability to withstand some pretty intense workloads was key to constructing their new identity.

We are going to have an intense training camp that is going to show who truly brings the intensity and toughness, but there are some very positive signs for certain players and a strong camp will only solidify their role.

So it's going to be a much different look this season for the Maple Leafs, but it could be exactly what they need to power through their playoff demons.