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SPORTSCENTRE Reporter

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The Maple Leafs' bye week ended on Thursday with a practice at the Barnabas Health Hockey House at Prudential Center.

* Curtis McElhinney skated with his new team for the first time on Thursday and will make his Toronto debut either Friday against the Rangers or Saturday in Ottawa, Mike Babcock confirmed. The Leafs head coach noted that his team needs to be able to get points from the nine remaining back-to-back situations this season and they believe the 33-year-old can help in that regard. "It's exciting," McElhinney said. "It's a big hockey market. It's a bit different than Columbus, but it's a big challenge and I'm looking forward to it." If McElhinney does face the Rangers on Friday he will be familiar with the opposition. The London, Ont. native's last game with Columbus was Saturday against the Rangers. He allowed five goals on 34 shots in a losing cause.

* Nikita Soshnikov, who missed Saturday's game with an upper-body injury, was back in his regular spot on the fourth line at Thursday's practice. Martin Marincin, out since Dec. 10 with a lower-body injury, skated with the team, but wore a red non-contact jersey and only took part in some of the drills.

* Babcock expects the All-Star invitation will serve as a nice confidence booster for Auston Matthews. "We expect it to be one of many All-Star Games he gets to go to and any time you're around the best players I think that's a positive thing," Babcock said. "The confidence you gain by being around the best guys is important." Matthews has racked up 15 goals and 22 points in 20 games since snapping a 13-game goalless drought on Nov. 23. "He's on a fast track," Babcock said. "It's going to be apparent to the whole league shortly ... His ability without the puck has gone through the roof very quickly. He's a real good player, but he's still got lots to learn." Babcock pointed out that Matthews has struggled with face-offs (44 per cent). Where else can he improve? "He'll have more confidence and do things quicker as time goes on."

* Babcock continues to rave about Zach Hyman, who has produced 15 points in the last 20 games despite not playing on the man advantage. "He's real smart," Babcock said. "He's going to play on the power play eventually here, but there's a sequence of events for everything and right now he's getting lots of ice time penalty killing and playing a regular shift. He's got real good hockey sense, can pass the puck pretty good, strong net presence." Hyman averages 16:51 TOI per game, fourth among all Toronto forwards.

* Mitch Marner, Matt Martin and Connor Carrick went on a trip to the Cayman Islands during the team's bye week. They shared some moments on social media, but not all the highlights made it onto Instagram. The trio went snorkelling on their last day on vacation. "It was a little windy so you couldn't see too much," Marner said. "We got pretty far out and then looked up and saw how far the tide was taking us out and I think we were probably 30 yards off the beach so we were pretty far out." Marner relayed the story to Matthews. "I'm not a fan of the ocean," Matthews said. "One of my biggest fears is sharks so I'm not a big ocean guy so I'm glad I didn't go down there with them."

And while Matthews didn't travel with Marner during the break, he couldn't help but take a playful jab at his teammate and good buddy on social media. When Marner posted on Instagram that he was on a "Boys Week," Matthews was quick to correct the record saying that all three Leafs brought their girlfriends with them. "I thought it was funny, but it really blew up a lot," Marner said. "We were talking about it today about how quick it blew up." Matthews is still learning how easily he can create a social media stir these days. "We always give each other a hard time, but I think people were kind of taking it like we were being dead serious, but it was just a joke," Matthews said.

* While Marner and Matthews have become close friends this season, it is Martin who has emerged as a mentor for the London Knights product. "I'd kind of describe him as a fatherly figure," Marner said. "He's been great so far, helping me on and off the ice. Whenever I need to talk to someone, he's always there." It was actually Marner who helped convince Martin to go to an exotic locale during the break. "Originally, I was just going to come back to New York and see family and then ... Mitchy and Carrick started getting on me about going somewhere," Martin explained. "As the season progresses you kind of get closer to certain guys."

* Even Babcock was able to get away from hockey during the break, confining all his work to the airplane. "I was able to tune it out," the coach said. "I went through all the bad plays on the flight on the way down and then I went through all the good plays on the way home so I didn't think about it the whole time. It was perfect."

Babcock put the Leafs through a brisk 45-minute workout on Thursday in an attempt to shake off some of the vacation rust. "Turn the light bulbs on, getting guys ready to go again," Babcock said when asked what he wanted to accomplish. "We didn't feel we finished as strong defensively from the Centennial Classic through (Saturday) as we could've so we got to get our game back." Toronto allowed 17 goals in the four games before the bye week. Babcock described the ice at the Devils' practice rink as "crazy slow" which he felt was probably a good thing, because it forced guys to get their legs going.

* Lines at Thursday's Leafs practice:

Hyman-Matthews-Brown
JVR-Bozak-Marner
Komarov-Kadri-Nylander
Martin-Gauthier-Soshnikov
Leivo

Rielly-Zaitsev
Gardiner-Carrick
Hunwick-Polak
Marincin

Andersen
McElhinney