TORONTO — Another game and another player was putting “money on the board” if the Vegas Golden Knights could beat his former team.

It’s become a tradition by now. The players look at the upcoming schedule and then look around the room for the person who had been left unprotected by that team in the expansion draft. They jokingly remind him that he wasn’t wanted, which they reinforce by singling him out in the middle of the pre-game stretch circle.

“For the most part, there’s usually money on the board from somebody,” said Vegas forward Alex Tuch, which could explain why the Golden Knights have the third-best record in the Western Conference standings. “That’s kind of something that guys bonded over. It’s kind of a joke in the locker room, like who played on this team last year kind of thing.”

In an opening night win against Dallas, it was Cody Eakin who provided the incentive required to beat the team that left him exposed. Since then, Malcolm Subban, David Perron, Colin Miller and Oscar Lindberg have reminded their teammates how badly they wanted a win.

On Monday, it was Brendan Leipsic’s turn.

“There’s a lot of guys with chips on their shoulders,” the former Toronto Maple Leafs prospect said. “I think that’s why we’ve been so successful as a team.”

As he said this, Leipsic looked less like a spurned lover and more like someone who had escaped a doomed relationship. If he was upset about being unwanted by the Leafs, he was hiding it behind a pretty big smile.

And why wouldn’t he be smiling?

The expansion draft was the best thing to happen to the 23-year-old. In Toronto, he was buried in the minors, somewhere below Josh Leivo, Kasperi Kapanen and Nikita Soshnikov on the depth chart. In Vegas, he has been given new life as an NHL regular — something several other Golden Knights have discovered this season.

“Seeing the Leafs line-up as it was, it’s no secret that it would have been a challenge to crack,” said Leipsic, who had four assists in his first eight games after appearing in just six games with the Leafs last season. “Any opportunity would have been nice, so I’m glad I found it here in Vegas. It’s been a fun ride so far.”

Much has been made of how Vegas benefited from an expansion draft that actually provided the team with players better than mere replacement level, such as Marc-Andre Fleury, James Neal and Jonathan Marchessault. But they also have a lot of players who would have still been in the minors without an additional 23 jobs opening up.

So far, they are making the most of the opportunity.

Tuch, who played just seven games with the Minnesota Wild last season, has four goals and seven points in nine games. Brad Hunt, an AHL journeyman who had played a combined 40 games in the NHL during the last six seasons, has seven assists in seven games. And Tomas Nosek, who spent most of last season with the Red Wings’ AHL affiliate, has two goals and three points.

“Last year it was really hard to break into a team like Minnesota, because they were so set on the contract side of things and on the hockey side of things,” said Tuch, the 18th-overall pick in 2014. “It’s hard to break into a team that’s in the top five in the league for most of the year. I think it allowed teams that lost guys to get younger and give younger guys a shot too. It opened up a lot of doors for a lot of younger players.”

If anything, Vegas showed that the talent pool is large enough to support a 31st team. As Marchessault said, referencing the number of NHL-calibre players that the Golden Knights still have in the minors, the league could probably handle two more expansion teams without any noticeable drop off.

“The team drafted so many good players, but if you do it again for a 32nd or a 33rd team, it’s going to be a successful draft too,” said Marchessault, who spent the first five years in the AHL before finally getting a full-time opportunity in 2016-17 with the Florida Panthers. He responded with 30 goals.

“Some guys who are in the AHL just never get a chance. The moment that we have the chance we’re able to show that we are able to play in the NHL. It’s just great to be a part of a group like that. They’re all good players. Some guys are just on the bubble, or they’re on the third or fourth line and they come here and they have a bigger role and they show up and they deliver.

“It’s so great to see all those stories happening.”

• Email: mtraikos@postmedia.com | Twitter: @Michael_Traikos