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TSN Toronto Maple Leafs Reporter

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TSN Toronto reporter Kristen Shilton checks in daily with news and notes on the Maple Leafs. The team held a noon practice at MasterCard Centre on Thursday.

Before the Maple Leafs convened for their first practice after the NHL’s three-day Christmas break, word came down that fans had voted Auston Matthews as the Atlantic Division captain for next month’s NHL All-Star Game in San Jose.

“It’s a big honour,” Matthews said after the Leafs practice on Thursday. “To be selected to compete in the All-Star Game is a huge honour and to be a captain of the division, it’s pretty special. The fanbase we have and how passionate these people are about us, it’s really special.”

This will be Matthews’ third consecutive appearance in the league’s annual talent showcase and his first appearance as a team captain, representing the Leafs in each season he’s played for them. That the 21-year-old missed 14 games in this campaign with a shoulder injury didn’t dampen the voters’ opinions of his play, either. As it is, Matthews has 34 points (19 goals, 15 assists) in 23 games, and has the fifth-best point-per-game average in the NHL (1.48).

“It means a lot,” he said of the fans voting him in. “I’m really grateful to play in a market like Toronto that has such passionate fans that go out of their way to go out and vote for you and do that stuff. It definitely means a lot to me as a player and a person being a part of Toronto.”

“Good for him, good player,” added Leafs coach Mike Babcock. “He’s at that time in his career where there’s a lot of notoriety right now. He’s exciting and it’s exciting for our franchise. It’s a real compliment to him from the fans and you always want to be good to the fans and they’ll be good to you.”

That Matthews ended up at the top of the voters’ list (the remaining all-stars will be selected by the league’s hockey operations department) despite missing time was certainly of no surprise to his teammates.

“One of the best players in the world, so shocker,” Morgan Rielly said, dripping with sarcasm. “He’s a great player, [it’s] well-deserved.”

Rielly is one of Matthews' fellow Leafs he mentioned as being “very deserving” of a nomination to the All-Star Game as well, along with Mitch Marner and Frederik Andersen. But if Matthews could choose anyone to join him, it would be Bay Area transplant Patrick Marleau, for a unique reason.

“[I’d] take him back to San Jose, and probably stay at his house there and the whole nine yards, that’d be pretty nice,” Matthews joked, referring to the 19-season career Marleau had with the San Jose Sharks before signing with Toronto.

But Marleau wouldn’t even need to be part of the action for Matthews to score a stay at his digs.

“I said he could have the keys and go stay there,” Marleau said. “I don’t know if he’s going to throw a party or not, but…”

He’s willing to take the risk.

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With only three days off between the Leafs’ last game at home against the Detroit Red Wings and Thursday’s practice, Matthews didn’t have time to travel back to his hometown of Scottsdale, Arizona. And this year’s schedules prevented his family from making the trip to Toronto.

So, Matthews spent the holiday with his surrogate family – Marleau, his wife Christina, and their four sons Landon, Brody, Jagger and Caleb.

“He didn’t have anyone in town. Didn’t want him to be left out,” Marleau explained. “We’re glad he came over. The boys had a blast; we had a blast. It was a lot of fun.”

Matthews posted a picture of himself with Marleau and sons to his Instagram story on Christmas Day, in which he’s sporting a “Macho Man” onesie (complete with airbrushed abs) provided by Christina.

“It’s a little tradition they do,” Matthews said. “Surprised it fit, but it looked pretty nice in that picture, looked pretty realistic.”

Babcock was quick to point out Marleau wasn't the only player who opened his home to a teammate over the holidays. But Matthews joining in that family’s festivities was another example of how the 39-year-old veteran continues to have an impact on the Leafs that goes far beyond a scoresheet.

“He heard that my family wasn’t able to make it up for Christmas and he extended an invitation right away,” Matthews said. “It was hard not to take him up on it with how close we are and how much fun we have with his boys every time we go over to his house.”

“We get to know each other more the more time you spend together,” Marleau added. “Over the course of a season and a half here, it’s been great to get to know him that much more every time we hang out.”

Those types of bonds are what Babcock always knew Marleau could build as the elder statesman in a young Leafs’ room.

“Patty’s been Patty since well before we got him,” Babcock said. “And he knew why he was coming and what his job was when he arrived. As the guys got to know him better, they might be more comfortable with him. I don’t think he’s necessarily more comfortable, he was a man already. But he’s a real good person and he has a ton of the attributes we want a Leaf to be, and so I think it’s imperative that you have good people leading.”

At the same time, talk on the outside has picked up over whether the Leafs can afford to keep Marleau (and his $6.25 million cap hit) around in the final year of his deal next season. Marleau has a no-movement clause which would prevent a surprise decision, but the entire thing isn’t a topic of concern for him anyway.

“I’m fairly busy when I get home, so it’s pretty easy for me to be able to [ignore rumours],” he said. “You check websites here and there, but for the most part I’m just at the rink, doing my job and when I’m home, playing with the kids or running to hockey games or doing something with school.”

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Any pundit who said they knew what to expect from Andreas Johnsson and Kasperi Kapanen in their first full NHL seasons was lying. Or so says Babcock.

“Anyone who can tell you that they knew is full of it. [So] no, I didn’t know [how good they'd be]," Babcock said. "And we watched them every day. That’s the beauty of it. Sometimes, you look at the draft, and it’s upside down. Because even the experts don’t get it right. So that’s just a process…right now both guys are doing a good job.”

Since Zach Hyman went down with injury prior to the Leafs’ game on Dec. 20, Johnsson has been filling in on Toronto’s top line with John Tavares and Marner, while Kapanen is holding court with Matthews and Marleau on the Leafs’ so-called second line. 

In their respective roles, both players are finding ways to contribute. Kapanen has been more dominant on the scoresheet, registering 25 points in 37 games, compared to 17 points in 32 games for Johnsson. But Johnsson is honing his craft in other ways.

“Johnny has done a real nice job getting to the net. He’s done a real nice job staying on his feet,” assessed Babcock. “[In the] early going he wasn’t able to do that. He’s been able to handle the cycle and he’s taking care of the puck and working. They’ve done a good job. We’d like to have three dominant, dominant offensive lines. It’s important that Johnny plays well if we’re going to have that.”

Now the question remaining is how far the wingers’ skill sets will take them from here.

“The level-water mark, when is it? And how long can [they] maintain it?” Babcock asked. “I don’t know the answer to that. But I’m going to keep watching.”

Babcock will also be keeping a keen eye on Trevor Moore, who is set to play his second NHL game on Friday against the Blue Jackets in Columbus. Moore made his NHL debut on Sunday with Par Lindholm and Frederik Gauthier on the Leafs’ fourth line with 5:27 ice time.

“He’s taking a regular shift. He’s on the power play,” Babcock revealed of Moore. “He’s going to do the same thing [as his first game], and then as time goes on we’ll see what happens. On the power play [Sunday] he never got out there because one of the guys was stuck out in the offensive zone. But we plan on him playing on the power play and playing a regular shift with those guys, whatever that regular shift may be.”

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William Nylander hasn’t been able to light the lamp in nine games so far this season, recording just two assists back on Dec. 12, but his missing touch around the net isn’t what Babcock brings up with his struggling winger.

“When I talk to Willy, we never talk about production. I never, ever talk to players about production,” Babcock said. “I just talk to players about process and working hard and competing and doing little things in a game that allow you to be successful.”

Babcock saw a lot more of those positives out of Nylander on Sunday, and made sure to let him know it, even though the night didn't start off well. In recent games, Nylander had been playing on the Leafs’ third line with Connor Brown and Nazem Kadri for the last several games, but did get a brief promotion to the Matthews line with Kapanen against Detroit, only to see the experiment fail quickly. 

That unit was out for two goals-against in the opening 20 minutes, and Nylander was swapped for Marleau by the second frame. He didn't allow that to rattle him though, and Nylander put together one of the more competitive performances of his brief season to date.

“When I met with Willy today, all I showed him was all the battles he won last game,” said Babcock. “Because I thought that was his best effort and I think it’s important to understand that it was a good effort for him and we want him to just continue to work hard and compete and when he gets his feel back, the rest of it will come.”

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Maple Leafs lines at Thursday’s practice:

Forwards
Johnsson-Tavares-Marner
Marleau-Matthews-Kapanen
Brown-Kadri-Nylander
Lindholm-Gauthier-Moore

Defencemen
Rielly-Hainsey
Gardiner-Zaitsev
Dermott-Ozhiganov

Goaltenders
Andersen
Sparks