Heavy mettle
James van Riemsdyk has added off-season weight to go along with still-emerging skill that could make him great
He is bigger than the last time you saw him. Five pounds, to be exact. It might not sound like much, but the added weight is something James van Riemsdyk noticed right away, even it is just mental.
He said he feels stronger. More explosive. Confident.
“This is the first year that I’ve put on some weight,” says van Riemsdyk, who is now 215 pounds. “It’s all good weight. Obviously, it doesn’t mean much if your body fat is going up, but my body fat is the same. I know obviously you can feel stronger when you’ve got a few extra pounds, a little heavier to the other guy, and it obviously makes it harder for them to push you around in the corners or in front of the net.”
That’s t he t hi ng with van Riemsdyk. Even now, at age 25, he is still growing. With Dion Phaneuf, Joffrey Lupul and Phil Kessel, you more or less know what to expect. With van Riemsdyk, who is the highest draft pick to play for the Toronto Maple Leafs since Mats Sundin, we still have not seen the best.
How good can he get? Well, he scored a career-best 30 goals and 61 points last season. But, as head coach Randy Carlyle said, it might have been just the beginning.
“With JVR, he is just starting to mature as a hockey player,” Carlyle said of the No. 2 overall pick in the 2007 draft, who had a goal and an assist in a pre-season game against the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday night. “That’s the way I read it. So there’s more for him to give. I think he’s more comfortable out on the ice. You watch the plays he makes, he’s got a lot of confidence with the puck.” A bit of a late-bloomer, van Riemsdyk spent two years at the University of New Hampshire before coming to the NHL. When he finally did, the Philadelphia Flyers did not exactly know what to do with him. The team thought he could be the next Milan Lucic. But as one scout said, “Yes, he’s 6-3, but he’s not mean. He’s more of a skilled player than a physical player.”
It took a trade to Toronto, where van Riemsdyk has regularly played on the top line and become a huge net presence, for the New Jersey na- tive to start realizing his potential. In his first season with the Leafs, he scored 18 goals and 32 points in 48 games. Last year, he finished in the top 20 in the NHL in goals and in the top 40 in points and represented the U.S. at the Olympics.
Today, he is a player that can beat you multiple ways: with his shot, his speed or by using his strength down and taking pucks to the net.
“It comes down to opportunity and timing and different things,” van Riemsdyk said of his development. “I think I showed in my second year [in Philadelphia], when I was given a chance to play in a key role, that I was able to have some success. I’ve been able to get some more consistent opportunities since I got here and be able to go from there.
“Obviously, I feel like I’ve grown as a player. But it doesn’t mean much if you don’t get the opportunity, which is what I’ve gotten here. I’m grateful to the Leafs for believing in me and bringing me here and the coaches — Randy in particular — for giving me the opportunity pretty
I’ve been able to get some more consistent opportunities since I got here
much since I got here to show what I can do.”
Of the players selected after him in the 2007 draft, van Riemsdyk has fewer goals (95) and points (192) than Sam Gagner (101 goals and 295 points), Jakub Voracek (102 goals and 291 points), Jamie Benn (116 goals and 272 points), David Perron (112 goals and 255 points), Wayne Simmonds (111 goals and 234 points), Logan Couture (112 goals and 220 points) Max Pacioretty (107 goals and 213 points).
But since coming to Toronto, where he has 48 goals and 93 points in 130 games, the gap is closing.
A member of the Leafs management said Wednesday that he believes van Riemsdyk could evolve into the team’s best forward this season. Better than Kessel. He added that reaching the 40-goal mark — something Kessel has yet to do — is not unrealistic.
Based on the pre-season, he is off to a great start. In two exhibition games, van Riemsdyk has two goals and three points. It should actually be three goals, but on Tuesday night against the Flyers he rocketed a shot so hard and so precise that it hit the back of the net and bounced out quickly. The officials incorrectly ruled it no goal.
“Good thing pre-season goals don’t count for bonuses,” he joked.
The Leafs power forward even put those newfound extra pounds to good use on Wednesday night, when he knocked off Aaron Johnson’s helmet with a hit in overtime moments after the Ottawa defenceman had knocked van Riemsdyk down. “When I got back up, I saw someone had the puck and I just tried to finish my hit too,” he said. When asked if the early returns were a sign of things to come, van Riemsdyk said it does not hurt. “You just want to go out there and get ready for the season,” he said. “Obviously, if these things happen, they happen. But they don’t mean much if I don’t score for the first five games of the year. So obviously, that’s the key to be ready for Oct. 8.”
Does he have a number in mind that he wants to reach?
“Again, I don’t think anyone wants to put a limit on their minds,” he said. “Just keep pushing forward, just keep getting better and go from there.”
The interesting thing to watch this season is whether van Riemsdyk’s success was a product of playing with Kessel or whether he can do it alone. Carlyle said he has considered splitting up the top line and having van Riemsdyk play with Nazem Kadri and perhaps David Clarkson in an effort to spread the offence around.
Either way, after a breakout year, the expectations have been readjusted accordingly.
“Personally, numbers wise I had one of my best years in the league to date,” van Riemsdyk said of last season. “I was able to accomplish some things I wanted to accomplish as far as the Olympic team and that sort of thing. But I’m not satisfied, especially with how our year ended as a team.
“And you have to look in the mirror to see things that you could have done better the following year.”