TORONTO – Morgan Rielly is in the NHL, at least for now.

Several hours before the Toronto Maple Leafs’ deadline to submit their official roster, the 19-year-old took part in practice and could very well be the seventh defencemen when the season opens Tuesday night in Montreal.

Rielly, whose status was the biggest question of Leafs training camp, rotated in on defence while the suspended David Clarkson continued to take line rushes up front. If Toronto goes with the same lineup that was on the ice Monday, it will have 11 forwards against the Canadiens, a group that includes Carter Ashton.

Another option is to put enforcer Frazer McLaren on long-term injured reserve with a broken right pinky finger, which would give the Leafs enough of a salary-cap allowance to call-up a 12th forward like Troy Bodie or Trevor Smith.

Rielly’s status would become a question mark in that case, given that Dion Phaneuf was paired with Carl Gunnarsson, Paul Ranger with Jake Gardiner and Cody Franson with Mark Fraser during practice. John-Michael Liles, who was placed on waivers Sunday, was not on the ice.

In a preview of what the lines could look like in the season opener, Tyler Bozak centred James van Riemsdyk and Phil Kessel, Nazem Kadri centred Joffrey Lupul and Nikolai Kulemi, David Bolland centred Mason Raymond and Clarkson and Jay McClement centred Ashton and Colton Orr. Clarkson is not eligible to play until Oct. 25 as he serves an automatic 10-game suspension for leaving the bench to join an altercation during the pre-season.