BABCOCK POSITIVE IN WAKE OF I NJURY
TORONTO • There’s a good reason Maple Leafs head coach Mike Babcock doesn’t appear to be too concerned about where his team’s offence will come from now that his top scorer is sidelined for the next six to eight weeks.
“That’s one way of looking at it. Another way is it’s a really good opportunity for someone, so that’s how I look at it,” said Babcock following the Leafs’ annual outdoor practice. “There’s no sense talking about the guys who aren’t here, let’s talk about the guys who are here and let’s get to work.”
The Maple Leafs announced they’d be without James van Riemsdyk, who suffered a non- displaced fracture in his left foot on Saturday night when the Leafs experienced t heir worst loss of the season, 7- 0 to the Sharks in San Jose. With 29 points, van Riemsdyk is currently Toronto’s scoring leader.
Prior to the Leafs’ last two games, van Riemsdyk was on a career- high sevengame point streak in which he amassed four goals and nine points. His production in November and December seemed to directly correlate with Toronto’s ability to dig out of the 1-7-2 hole they were in at the start of the season.
When van Riemsdyk registered a point this season, the Leafs were 12-7- 4. When he failed to score a point, they were 4-10-3.
But the Leafs have been down this road before.
At the beginning of December, the team had to shut down one of their top goal scorers. Dealing with a nagging lower- body injury, Lupul was placed on the injured reserve as he worked to get his strength back.
Before sitting out, Lupul was tied for the team lead in goals with eight. It was significant, given the Leafs had all kinds of issues generating offence and were ranked second- worst in goals per game at the time.
Others, i ncluding van Riemsdyk, stepped up to fill the void. That’s what Babcock expects to happen again.
“We just move forward. There’s nothing you can do; somebody else gets an opportunity to play; we’re going to have to find a way ( to make do),” said Babcock. “Obviously (van Riemsdyk is) a really good player. He was playing good and getting better. We’re just going to have to find a way to give someone else an opportunity and they’ll have to embrace it.”
Shawn Matthias will get the first crack at filling van Riemsdyk’s spot alongside centre Tyler Bozak and winger P. A. Parenteau when the Leafs host the Blue Jackets on Wednesday. The trio had success playing as a line for the entire month of November.
Marlies forward Josh Leivo was called up and took part in practice on Monday. He has played in just 16 NHL games in two seasons, while registering two goals and three points. He is in the midst of a career-high five-game point streak in the AHL (three goals and two assists) that will have to wait as he begins a new stint with the Maple Leafs.