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TSN Toronto Maple Leafs Reporter

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TAMPA – Tomas Plekanec hasn’t had much time to consider the trade that sent him from the Montreal Canadiens to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday morning. And frankly, he doesn’t plan to ponder it much going forward, either. There isn’t time.

Just 24 hours after the Leafs acquired Plekanec and Kyle Baun from Montreal for a 2018 second-round pick, Kerby Rychel and Rinat Valiev, the 35-year-old was taking morning skate ahead of dressing for Toronto against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday night.

Having spent the entirety of his 981-game career to this point with the Canadiens, suiting up in blue and white will be a departure, but hardly a distraction, for the seasoned veteran.

“It’s different, right? It’s been pretty quick and that’s the business side of it," said Plekanec after morning skate. “I didn’t have much time to think about it, and I hope I won’t think about it during the game. I’ll try to just play whatever I feel like [I need] to do and whatever I’ve been told to by coaches. I’ll do my best to get [involved] as fast as possible.”

Plekanec replaced Dominic Moore on the Leafs’ fourth line between Leo Komarov and Josh Leivo at the skate. In that role, he projects to see fewer minutes than what he's averaged this season (16:17) in Montreal, but Mike Babcock has always managed to find more ice time for players he feels deserve it.

Plekanec was averaging more shorthanded minutes per game than any other Montreal forward (2:11), which also stands to be a big part of his time with the Leafs.

Regardless of usage out of the gate though, what Babcock likes most about Plekanec is he’s made the Leafs deeper than they were two days ago.

“He’s a mature player, knows how to play without the puck, good faceoff guy especially on his strong side, can penalty kill for us and play against the best players,” said Babcock. “What we’re trying to do is get as deep a group as we can possibly have. There are always injuries, you want to be prepared for that too, and then set yourself up the best you possibly can. We’re excited to have him.”

Now that he’s in the Leafs’ fold, Plekanec has more than just a new sweater to sport. Under his gear the trademark turtleneck is still in place, which Plekanec joked is similar to the blue one he wore in Montreal for nearly 1,000 games.

Before arriving in Tampa, Plekanec underwent the all-important shave of his facial hair in adherence to general manager Lou Lamoriello’s strict grooming policy.

“Right away I got text messages from guys I played with who played under Lou and they told me right away ‘you gotta shave that,’” Plekanec said. “It was different looking in the mirror this morning, but that’s the way it is. Those are rules and I don’t have a problem with the rules.”

Being the new kid on the block isn’t a position Plekanec is familiar with, so the relationships forged playing with Ron Hainsey, Dominic Moore and Roman Polak at various stages over the last two decades have already proven invaluable.

Plekanec noted several guys in the Leafs room reached out via text after the trade was announced to say hello. While the warm welcome was appreciated, perhaps no one can understand the wave of emotions Plekanec is sure to be processing quite like Babcock.

For 10 seasons he was the bench boss in Detroit before joining the Leafs in 2015. Movement is part of the business, and while the toll it takes can’t be underestimated, the positives often outweigh any negatives.

“You’re very comfortable. Your family is comfortable there; no one really wants to move. Life is good,” said Babcock. “And then you get moved. But it’s exhilarating too. We have an opportunity; we’re excited to have him. [For him], don’t think, just play. We’ll sort it out over the next couple of weeks of how we play.  But in the meantime, just do what you do, and let’s go.”

"We talked about it a little bit and he has experience with that kind of thing so he knows how I probably feel, and it’s great to see," added Plekanec. I’m going to do my best to gel in right away."

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Maple Leafs projected lineup vs. Tampa Bay

Hyman-Nylander-Kapanen

Marleau-Kadri-Marner

van Riemsdyk-Bozak-Brown

Komarov-Plekanec-Leivo

 

Rielly-Hainsey

Gardiner-Zaitsev

Dermott-Polak

 

Andersen starts

McElhinney