There are a few early storylines around Leafs Nation to start the season, but none that any of us should be overly concerned about.
The flu bug has hit the Leafs locker room early. John Tavares has already missed a game, while William Nylander missed practice earlier this week and may not play tonight. According to Craig Berube there have been other players with the bug, but they weren’t hit as hard as Tavares and were able to play through it.
Berube can’t say if Nylander will shake the flu bug by Thursday. After Tavares missed a game, the team is obviously trying to isolate any players not feeling well. Then there’s Max Pacioretty: “I have five kids. I go home and if you’re gonna to get it, you’re gonna get it.”
Hopefully the bug passes through quickly, so the team can keep putting together solid efforts and add some W’s to the board.
Timothy Liljegren, scratched for the first 3 games of the season and now a permanent fixture in the trade rumour mill, appears to be on the verge of making his season debut.
Leafs lines at practice
Oct. 15/24
Knies-Matthews-Marner
Holmberg-Tavares-Robertson
McMann-Domi-Pacioretty
Lorentz-Kampf-Reaves
Dewar
Rielly-Tanev
OEL-McCabe
Benoit -Liljegren
Timmins- Myers
Hakanpaa
Stolarz
Hildeby
Liljegren is taking the scratches and rumours in stride, it appears, but says that he’d like to play and is just working hard to get back into the lineup. However, when a player says “If something (a trade) happens, it happens, but I’m just coming in and working hard” it does make you wonder if he’s thinking that he’d be better suited for another team. Throughout his interviews there are no quotes about Toronto being the place he wants to stay and using that as motivation to work hard. Rather, it appears that he’s simply unhappy that he isn’t in a lineup regularly, somewhere. I believe the team and player have their divorce papers drawn up, they simply need to put pen to paper. Whenever a team steps up with a serious offer for the former 17th overall selection, he’ll be on the move. In the meantime he has to play some games, as speculation from fans is that other teams want to see him on the ice so they can better gauge what they’re getting. The answer to that question is an inconsistent player that has shown the ability to play in your top 4 while at his best, while also looking like the worst player on the ice on other nights.
I’ll stand by my assertion that Liljegren, who is still just 25 years old, will be a steady player in the NHL within a few years and will maintain his top 4 status through his early 30’s. A veteran of almost 196 regular season and 13 playoff games over 5 seasons, the Leafs have put time and effort into his development and, it appears, another team will likely get the best part’s of his career from it. The question for the Leafs is if they can capitalize on whatever return they get for him.
The powerplay has yet to cash in this season. We all know that with the talent they have that won’t continue forever. The question on a lot of lips is whether it’s a slow start and/or execution from the players, or if it’s more about structure and game plan. New powerplay coordinator, Marc Savard, doesn’t exactly have a past record that would make you relaxed and confident that things will change, but he does appear to have the full support of head coach, Craig Berube. For now, they’re looking to shake things up by giving Oliver Ekman-Larsson a shot at quarterbacking the top powerplay unit.
Leafs PP units at practice
PP1
OEL, Matthews, Marner, Pacioretty, Tavares
PP2 Rielly, Robertson, Domi, McMann, Knies
It seems as if moving Rielly down is the go to move for any coaching staff, but it’s a move that has never proven to be effective in the past. One thing that can’t be denied is that Ekman-Larsson looked good on that unit last game and has had a great start to his Leafs career, both on the powerplay and at even strength. Let’s hope that trend continues for about 4 years.
Auston Matthews has yet to register a point this season. Get your betting fingers ready, because that simply can’t continue. He’ll begin to produce very soon and when the flood gates open I expect that they’ll open very wide.
Lastly, Joseph Woll made a brief appearance on the ice before practice yesterday. He’s still working his way back from “lower body tightness,” whatever that means, but he doesn’t appear to be ready for full practice yet. In the meantime everybody appears comfortable with the tandem of Anthony Stolarz and Dennis Hildeby. With a combined height of 13’1″ and weight of 467lbs, the two towering netminders are taking up a lot of net and making a lot of saves. The team has one more back-to-back on the schedule for October, which is next week versus Tampa Bay and Columbus, so there’s no point in rushing Woll back into action. It’s an easy decision to allow Stolarz the Tampa Bay start, with Hildeby going against Columbus. Outside of those games, if they’re really hesitant about putting Hildeby into too many NHL games and risking his confidence, they can just ride Stolarz, who has looked terrific in his first 2 games of the year.
Once the calendar flips to November it’s a bit of a different story. Their first 7 games of the month involve 3 sets of back-to-back’s, which seems to be a little much, wouldn’t you say? If Woll isn’t back by then they would be forced to play Hildeby more often, but, once again, the level of competition may play into their hands, as the 6 teams they face are the Blues, Wild, Wings, Canadiens, Senators and Capitals, in that order.
The main issue within all of this is the health of Joseph Woll. He simply can’t stay healthy and as good as he is when he does play, with his extension kicking in next season at $3.7M per season for 3 more season’s, can they justify paying him that when he can’t seem to string 10 games together without getting injured? If Stolarz continues to play well and Hildeby continues to develop, is Woll on the outside looking in by this time next season?
Enjoy the game. Go Leafs Go!!