Columnist image

SPORTSCENTRE Reporter

| Archive

TSN Toronto reporter Mark Masters checks in daily with news and notes from Maple Leafs practices and game-day skates. The Leafs practised on Wednesday at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, Fla. 

It may seem like Mike Babcock is being hard on William Nylander at times when the Leafs coach talks about the 21-year-old needing to up his compete level, but the message isn’t just about trying harder. It’s rarely that simple at the highest level of professional sports. It’s more about understanding one’s potential and unlocking it. 

“The biggest thing, all the time, is competitiveness,” Babcock said. “So, when he does what he did last night on the one play, tracks the guy from behind, lifts his stick and goes to the net hard, then his skill comes out. When he doesn’t do that his skill doesn’t come out. That’s the biggest challenge for him each and every night.”

Babcock is referencing the moment on Tuesday in the second period when Nylander stole the puck from Florida’s Evgenii Dadonov in the neutral zone before charging toward the net and setting up Zach Hyman for the tying goal. 

“I saw the play because I was behind,” Hyman recalled, “but I didn’t know if he saw me. He made a great play, obviously. Not a lot of people can make that play and he made it. I got a little bit of a gift there.”

Nylander has picked up 35 assists this season, which is tied for 28th (with Patrick Kane) among all NHL forwards. Babcock, however, believes Nylander is capable of handing out even more gifts although the coach readily admits it won’t be easy. 

“Don’t get me wrong, we’re in the National Hockey League, to separate yourself in competitiveness, everyone’s ultra-competitive, right? So, then to get to the next level of that, it’s hard, but that’s what separates the great, great players from the rest of us. I don’t know where it’s going for him. He’s a good guy, he’s a pro, he wants to be good and I think he’s cognizant of these things. We talk about it regularly.”

One of those chats appeared to happen before practice started on Wednesday as Babcock and Nylander skated together in deep discussion before the coach blew his whistle to get things going. 

The sophomore Swede was asked how hard it is to be consistently good in the NHL. 

“I’ve learned it takes a lot,” he said before pivoting to the group as a whole. “Of late, we’ve been able to compete like that as a team and been playing well.”

The truth is, it’s a hard thing to quantify and can take time. 

“Well, that’s tough,” agreed Nazem Kadri, who needed a few years before he found his footing in the NHL. “The more I stayed here, I figured out the hard part is staying in the NHL and not making it there.”

“If you’re all in each and every day, it just becomes so automatic,” said Babcock. “When you walk in the rink, you’re all in every day and you’re ultra competitive. Some guys have that right away, initially, and some guys have skill and don’t have to and then when you put the package together and you have both, then you’re a real hockey player and that’s the challenge for (Nylander) as he moves ahead.”

Babcock challenged Nylander with a big assignment on Monday, deploying him as a centre against Steven Stamkos, Brayden Point and the first-place Tampa Bay Lightning. It did not go well, so Nylander was back on right wing Tuesday night against the Florida Panthers alongside Hyman and reliable veteran Tomas Plekanec. He practised in that spot once again today. 

“The key for coaches is whenever you never have to protect a guy you know he’s settled in,” Babcock said on Monday night. “When you’ve got to protect a guy, then you know he’s not there yet.”

What did Nylander take away from Monday’s rough ride against the top Lightning centres? 

“You learn a lot and you just got to be above them and not give them so much space,” he noted. “That’s probably the main thing.”

Despite that hiccup in Tampa, Nylander has taken great strides in the final year of his entry-level deal. He had 35 even-strength points all of last season, but is already at 42 this year while facing tougher matchups. 

“He’s much more responsible now,” Kadri observed. “I feel like his two-way game has come a long way. He works hard to get himself into open areas to receive the puck and that translates into good things offensively and his offensive talent speaks for itself.”

“I think all over,” said Nylander when asked where he feels he’s improved. “Just been stronger on the puck and been able to hold pucks longer in the O zone and stuff like that.”

The task is, obviously, harder with Auston Matthews sidelined with a shoulder injury. Matthews and Nylander have emerged as one of the NHL’s best dynamic duos this season. How must Nylander adjust? 

“Try not to think about it,” he said. “Obviously, you lose a great centre that you play with. You try to play the same game that you usually do. Maybe try and shoot the puck more now that you’re not looking to pass to him.”

Struggling second power-play unit aims to simplify things

While Nylander’s production at even strength has spiked, his power-play totals have cratered. Last year, Nylander led the Leafs with 26 man-advantage points, which was also a franchise rookie record. This year, he has just seven. 

“Obviously, we’re struggling,” Nylander said of his unit. “We’re not having a really good year.”

Even at Wednesday’s practice the group stumbled, failing to score during a lengthy special-teams drill. Where can the unit, quarterbacked by Jake Gardiner and also featuring Connor Brown, Patrick Marleau and now Leo Komarov, in for Matthews, improve? 

“I think we can simplify things and I think that will help us a lot,” Nylander said. 

Rare practice after back-to-back games; rookie dinner Wednesday

The mere fact the Leafs were on the ice at all on Wednesday was surprising. It marked the first time in the last two seasons that the team had a full practice the day after completing a back-to-back set. And it was a lengthy practice by Babcock’s standards, going almost 50 minutes. 

So, what gives? 

“That wasn’t my call,” Babcock said with a grin. “That was their call. I wouldn’t do that. That’s their call. They wanted tomorrow off so there you go. They ran the schedule this week. We did a little negotiation and that’s why we practised today. This was their practice, not mine.”

The Leafs players will be holding their annual rookie dinner tonight. The team will fly north to the Washington area on Thursday afternoon and hold a practice on Friday. 

The lack of upcoming games has certainly created some flexibility in the schedule. Toronto will play an outdoor game against the Capitals on Saturday before travelling to Buffalo to face the Sabres on Monday. After that, Toronto plays just one game (Saturday, March 10 against Pittsburgh) in an eight-day stretch.

“We have less games on our schedule than any other team,” Babcock said. “We’re going to try and be as rested as we can and as fit as we can be and as good as we can be on a nightly basis.” 

Andersen's Stadium Series mask honours military, Bower 

Frederik Andersen is hoping the all-white uniforms Toronto will wear in Saturday’s game at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Md., may actually be an advantage. 

“If the puck’s around our pants it will obviously be easier to see,” he said. “But I don’t know if it’s going to have any (great) effect.”

Andersen worked with goalie mask artist Dave Gunnarsson to create a special design for Saturday’s game honouring the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders, which was the unit Johnny Bower served in.

“It was with a great joy and pride I painted Frederik Andersen’s Stadium mask,” Gunnarsson said in a Facebook post. “Frederik had an awesome idea, he wanted to pay tribute to Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders. We brainstormed together and came up with this classic and subtle storyteller design. It is created and painted in a mix of airbrush and very visible brush strokes, to give the design a nice vintage touch. It is very much inspired from Toronto Maple Leafs beautiful Stadium jersey.”

“It turned out really nice,” said Andersen. “Tried to keep it simple. Dave in Sweden did another great job again, added a few details that I asked for.”

Lines at Wednesday’s practice: 

Forwards
Marleau-Kadri-Marner 
Hyman-Plekanec-Nylander 
van Riemsdyk-Bozak-Brown 
Komarov-Moore-Kapanen 
Leivo 

Defencemen
Rielly-Hainsey
Gardiner-Zaitsev 
Dermott-Polak 
Martin-Carrick

Goaltenders
Andersen 
McElhinney