Jim Hiller sends major message with Jack Roslovic's huge preseason role

Jack Roslovic played 24:46 on Saturday night, and Jim Hiller never once looked unsure about where to put him.

One account watching had him on Auston Matthews' wing and figured he didn't look out of place. Found money, they wrote.

The minutes back that read up. Only three Toronto forwards saw more of the night than he did.

He put 2 shots on net and finished at a -1. No points anywhere on his line, and the usage is still the story.

John Tavares led the forwards at 26:02. Matthews came in right behind at 25:45.

William Nylander logged 25:38. That's four forwards past 24 minutes in an exhibition game nobody had to win.

Hiller trusts a small group and he isn't hiding it. In September, that tells you where his head is.

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Jack Roslovic earns massive Maple Leafs minutes alongside Auston Matthews

MacEwen saw 6:01 all night. Steven Lorentz got 6:51 and Harry Nansi 6:53 behind him.

There's the cliff. Roslovic sat at 24:46, and Gavin McKenna, the next forward down the sheet, got 19:13.

Toronto lost the game 4-1 at home to Montreal, so none of those minutes bought a result.

The Leafs put 25 shots on goal. Montreal answered with 29 at the other end.

Darren Raddysh led every skater in the building with 28:20 and scored the only Toronto goal of the evening.

Jake McCabe and Chris Tanev were the sole skaters in that lineup to walk out even.

Ottawa comes to town Wednesday. Toronto is still hunting its first preseason win of the fall.

Roslovic arrived cheap and keeps turning up in expensive minutes. That combination is how depth forwards become regulars.

So does September deployment mean anything in October? Handing a player big minutes in camp works like giving someone the good chair before they've paid any rent. Everybody in the room reads it.

Hiller has three weeks to decide whether that was a test or a decision. Nobody in that dressing room is going to ask him out loud.

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