The Maple Leafs held a practice on Wednesday at Ford Performance Centre. Thursday is a day off for the team.
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William Nylander had a couple golden opportunities to score late in Tuesday’s 3-2 loss to the Utah Mammoth, but could not convert.
“The chances were there and sometimes they don’t go in and it’s not your night, so what are you going to do,” the Leafs winger shrugged. “It’s just the way you got to look at it.”
So, Nylander did not lose sleep over the puck that squeaked through Sebastian Cossa and hit the post with 23 seconds left.
But there does seem to be some frustration when it comes to the state of his season, generally. Nylander is on pace to set career highs in goals (49), points (103) and average ice time (20:11), but the smooth-skating Swede is clearly not at the top of his game.
“I feel like it’s been a weird season in that way,” Nylander acknowledged. “I feel like I haven’t had the puck nearly as much as I usually have in, you know, neutral zone, O-zone. So, I mean, I don’t know exactly what that is coming down to but that’s something [I’m] trying to get sorted.”
“That’s been a constant conversation with Willie and I,” revealed coach Jim Hiller, who was an assistant in Toronto when Nylander broke into the NHL. “Certainly, the point production is there. But, yeah, I’m used to seeing him back in the day where he would carry the puck through the neutral zone and he would take people wide and turn up and find a secondary option and he just hasn’t had a lot of those looks.”
Nylander ranks second on the team in goals (10) and points (21) through 17 games, but his underlying numbers are underwater. The Leafs are controlling just 43.7 per cent of the shot attempts with Nylander on the ice at even strength, which would be a career-worst mark. Nylander has also been on the ice for more 5-on-5 goals against (17) than any other Leafs player.
“We’ve talked a lot about him maybe coming back for the puck a little bit more,” said Hiller. “Maybe spending less time in the neutral zone waiting for the puck and more time in our own zone trying to be the guy that is the break-out outlet and carrying it.”
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Nylander’s inconsistent play has made it tough for the Leafs to fill the void with top-six forwards Kirill Marchenko and John Tavares sidelined.
On Wednesday, Tavares participated in his first practice since sustaining an undisclosed lower-body injury on Oct. 15. He skated on a line with Nylander and Nick Paul. How’d he look?
“Oh, really good,” Hiller raved. “Yeah, really good. I’m sure he was excited to get out there and compete with the guys. He had a really good practice.”
Despite wearing a red sweater, Tavares did not shy away from contact during the drills.
“He looked great like he normally does,” Nylander said with a smile. “I don’t know if he’s going to play next game, but he looked great.”
The Leafs are off on Thursday and will hold another practice on Friday ahead of a key divisional showdown on Saturday against the Montreal Canadiens. If Tavares responds well on Friday, there’s a good chance he suits up against the Habs.
“He’ll have to practice Friday and pass that test and hopefully he does,” Hiller said. “And then I’d like to see him [Saturday] if we can, if we can get that next step.”
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It was overshadowed because of the injury, but Tavares actually shifted to left wing during his last game. And the longtime centre once again skated as a winger at Wednesday’s practice.
“We think it might be easier for him to keep generating more offence from the wing and have Pauly do a little bit more of the work down low,” Hiller explained.
Tavares played the flank briefly after the team acquired Ryan O’Reilly late in the 2022-23 season, but it’s been a rarity during his 18-year career.
“I don’t know if that might be the first time I’ll play with him on the wing,” Nylander said. “So it’ll probably be a little bit different.”
Tavares and Paul shared faceoff duties while playing alongside Marchenko on Oct. 15. Tavares leads the team in face-off win rate at 60.4.
“It feels good,” said Paul, who is only winning 45.9 per cent of draws this season. “John’s a great player. He works hard. He’s good down low, wins puck battles, so I think it’ll be good.”
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After scoring in the second period on Tuesday, Jack Roslovic declined an intermission interview request from TSN because he needed to spend time with the team’s medical staff. Roslovic, who scored again in the third period, was also unavailable for a media session after the game.
“Something’s going on,” Hiller acknowledged. “I don’t think it’s too serious. He’s spending some time with the trainers.”
Roslovic did not take part in Wednesday’s practice with the team calling it a maintenance day. Vinni Lettieri, who played just 8:04 on Tuesday and projects to be a scratch when Tavares returns, filled in as a placeholder on the top line.
Whatever is ailing Roslovic, it didn’t slow him down that much on Tuesday. He’s now hit the scoresheet in seven straight games, which is a career-long streak.
Auston Matthews is appreciating the consistency displayed by his linemate and longtime friend. The pair also played together during their time at the USA Hockey National Team Development Program.
“He skates, he works hard,” said Matthews, who assisted on both of Roslovic’s goals against the Mammoth. “He’s a very smart player, very easy to play with, and I think the time that we spent together definitely helps that chemistry. We both try to push each other each and every night we want to help the team win. We want to produce and do what we can. He’s been a lot of fun to play with and he’s been playing great for us. It’s awesome to see.”
With eight even-strength goals, Roslovic is tied with Connor McDavid for fourth overall in that category.
Roslovic is one of the fastest players in the league this season. His max speed of 38.14 km/h is in the 99th percentile, per NHL Edge.
“I like to see him finishing and scoring like he is, but what’s stood out is just his puck pursuit, his skating, his hardness, his forecheck, where he disrupts pucks long enough for Auston to arrive or [Easton Cowan] to arrive and then make a play out of that,” Hiller said. “He’s done a great job getting in and disrupting their breakouts. The goals and everything are great, but he’s skating.”
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The Leafs came out hot to start the third period on Tuesday outshooting the Mammoth 10-2 to open the final frame. And after Roslovic scored to tie things up, Toronto appeared to have all the momentum.
But then Darren Raddysh was whistled for a cross-checking penalty on Barrett Hayton with 8:08 remaining. The second-ranked Mammoth power play (36.4 per cent success rate this season) scored the game-winning goal on the ensuing man advantage.
“I took a dumb penalty so I take the blame for that one,” Raddysh said.
What happened?
“I don’t know. I cross-checked him. Just battling him. Just one too many, I guess.”
It certainly seemed like the officials could have also sent Hayton to the box for holding onto Raddysh’s stick during the skirmish. But Raddysh refused to make any excuses when asked if it was a bad call.
“No, it’s a penalty,” the 30-year-old said. “It’s one I would like to have back.”
Hiller called the penalty “stupid” in his post-game presser.
“That’s just a poor choice that can’t happen,” Hiller said. “He’s new to the team. It’s a one-off. We’re going to move past it. I don’t think it’ll be a theme for him.”
But it has been a theme for the Leafs so far this season. Toronto has been shorthanded 59 times, which is tied for third most in the NHL behind only the Florida Panthers and Montreal Canadiens.
Roslovic took an offensive-zone hooking penalty at the end of the first period on Tuesday, which led to another Mammoth power-play goal.
“It’s certainly been a talking point,” said defenceman Jake McCabe. “I’ve talked about it before, I’ve talked about it after games, that we’ve been taking too many penalties and it gets guys like myself and penalty killers more ice time and some guys that don’t penalty kill, they’re sitting on the bench and it’s easy to mess up the flow of the game.”
No team has spent more minutes on the penalty kill than the Leafs and McCabe leads the league in that department.
What’s causing all the penalties?
“I don’t know,” said Paul, who was whistled for hooking in the second period Tuesday. “It’s a good question. Can’t give an answer to you. I mean, yeah, just got to keep moving our feet and playing hard.”
The Leafs penalty kill covered up for the lack of discipline early in the season, but is starting to come back to earth allowing a goal in five straight games.
“You’re not going to sustain a 97 per cent pace all year,” McCabe said. “I even liked our kills last night. They get one at the end of the first one. I don’t know how many seconds were left, maybe 25. And that last one they scored, I thought we had a couple good pressures, but weren’t able to clear it. Good players are going to make good plays and it ends up in the back of your net. You keep giving teams opportunities, you know, you’re going to bite yourself in the butt if you keep doing that.”
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The one even-strength goal allowed by the Leafs on Tuesday was a controversial one. Defenceman Andrew Peeke fired a point shot into an open net after Hayton clicked skates with Sergei Bobrovsky, who was just outside the crease.
Referees Garrett Rank and Chris Schlenker talked it over and eventually ruled it a good goal as the contact was determined to be incidental. Does Bobrovsky understand why it was ruled a good goal?
“In my understanding, because the goalie is not in the crease, that’s the reason,” Bobrovsky said. “But, yeah, there’s lots of grey area. You know, like, in that particular moment I couldn’t do my job. I couldn’t stop the puck. So, yeah, there’s lots of questions. I do feel it’s not as clear. You know, sometimes you feel you’ve been interfered, but [it’s] still a goal. Sometimes it’s opposite. Yeah, so, my answer is I’m not sure.”
“Obviously being a goalie you’re going to be little impartial,” said back-up Anthony Stolarz. “I thought Bobby established position. If it’s a player and you’re in the neutral zone and run into someone and take them out, wouldn’t that be an interference penalty? I understand the league trying to get more goals and the flopping and whatnot has become an issue. You know, it’s one of those things where some people say one thing, some people say another.”
The Leafs opted not to challenge the call.
“The rule is tricky to interpret,” Hiller explained. “It really is. We went through it. We’ve seen a lot of these and we decided that because he was in the white, we weren’t going to challenge. But I would have hoped there was maybe a goalie interference call prior to that. That’s my hope. I don’t get to make the call.”
The team leans on video co-ordinator and statistical analyst Jordan Bean and video and coaching co-ordinator Sam Kim for guidance when it comes to these close calls. And the Leafs have won 31 of 37 challenges (83.8 per cent) over the last four seasons.
“We got the good video coaches and they know better,” Bobrovsky noted. “I trust them completely on that because they can see from different angles. They know the rules deeper ... Also you don’t want to take the penalty. You don’t want to risk and take the penalty and put the team in a tough spot. So I trust them on that.”
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The controversial Peeke goal and Raddysh penalty did not help matters, but before any of that happened the Leafs were getting outplayed by the speedy Mammoth.
“The first half of the game we just didn’t really have our legs or the energy needed to compete,” Matthews admitted. “I thought we got our game going in the second half a little bit.”
“Third period was pretty good,” Nylander said. “But, I mean, I don’t know why we should put ourself in that position. Why not just play like that for the full 60?”
It’s not just Nylander and the second line that is struggling to get set up in the offensive zone lately. Hiller believes the team, as a whole, can do a better job in that department.
“You’ve got to put the puck in the right spots on the forecheck,” the coach noted prior to Tuesday’s game. “That’s really where it starts ... In the second period in Vancouver, we got it in, we stopped the puck, we came with the second guy, and we won the puck. Then you play in the O-zone. It’s not one or the other. They’re connected and it starts with good dumps.”
The coach is hoping a rare three-practice week will help in that regard. One of the drills on Wednesday started with a player dumping the puck into the corner.
The on-ice work on both Monday and Wednesday has focused on offence generation.
“Hopefully, we see some results from that, but that’ll get worked in more and more,” Hiller said. “As we came into the season, we felt like we wanted to try to get skating and do some things without the puck first. We gave that some attention, but probably gave the defensive side a little bit more. Now we can turn this month into working on that.”
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Lines at Wednesday’s practice:
Cowan - Matthews - Lettieri
Tavares - Paul - Nylander
Joshua - Sissons - McKenna
Duhaime - Blueger - MacEwen
McCabe - Raddysh
Rielly - Tanev
Ekman-Larsson - Stecher
Mermis
Stolarz
Bonello (EBUG)