Leivo ready to put it on the line for Leafs
ANAHEIM • Mike Babcock would be thrilled if Josh Leivo made it impossible for the Toronto Maple Leafs coach to scratch his name from the lineup.
“He comes in and he does a good job for us,” Babcock said. “Should he be in every day? You can debate that all you want, but the reality is you need a certain amount of power play guys, a certain amount of penalty- kill guys and enough speed in your lineup.
“His opportunity is now to grab hold of it and make it as hard on me as possible and take someone’s job. When you get a chance to get in, just take someone’s job.”
Leivo will be in uniform on Wednesday when the Leafs play the Anaheim Ducks at the Honda Center. It will mark just the second game of the season for Leivo, but you can assume he will be spurred by his performances from last season when he had 10 points in 13 games for Toronto.
Fact is, that a player of Leivo’s ability has to find a way to fight to stay in the lineup is a nice problem, the kind many other teams gladly would take on.
There’s potential for the line of Nazem Kadri between Leivo and Leo Komarov. Now, the trio has to capitalize. Leivo knows his role.
“We did well last year when I played with them,” Leivo said. “I think we produced a lot of chances and a lot of points, so hopefully we can keep the chemistry going.
“Leo is a hard- working forward who gets in on the forecheck and Naz is skilled and makes plays. I’m just there to bury the puck.
“It feels great ( to be back in). I have to be ready whenever. I don’t know when the chance ( always) is, just have to make the most of it every time.”
BLUE- LINE OBSERVATIONS
Connor Carrick, we figure, has a future one day as a hockey analyst or coach if he so chooses. The Leafs defenceman’s insights and thoughts on the game of hockey are appreciated and respected by members of the media, and Carrick is the kind who wouldn’t think of falling back on clichés.
Carrick will return to the lineup on Wednesday after he was a healthy scratch for four consecutive games, and will be paired with Jake Gardiner.
“Any time you can take a step back where it’s not personal, you’re not in the fire, you can see what’s working for your team and what’s not,” Carrick said.
“I was pretty happy with how I was going for the most part (before he was taken out of the lineup).
“There were mistakes I was making that were ending up in goals. Flat out, you can’t have that. There were little details that are going to help our team in the long run and as a player in the role that I am, those have to be sharp.”
The mood in the Leafs dressing room remains upbeat despite three consecutive losses.
“We still have a long way to go,” Carrick said. “We knew that when we were 7-2. It’s all about building your game toward the end of the season and playoff time. We talk about habits and details in our room.
“Even when we were winning, there was a ‘ but’ ( as in) ‘ Hey, we outscored them but we weren’t happy with our D zone’ or ‘ We outscored them but we weren’t happy with the amount of blue-line turnovers we had.’
“When you’re losing, you are forced to face that question. You are not allowed to duck under it and hide from it. It smacks you right in the face. Our team has to tighten up.”
With Roman Polak slated to be a healthy scratch, we wonder when we might see him again.
Babcock wants his new-look defence, including the Gardiner- Carrick pair and the duo of Andreas Borgman and Nikita Zaitsev, to put down roots. Borgman, the 22-yearold rookie, continues to solidify his spot.
“We think (Carrick) should be in the lineup on a regular basis,” Babcock said. “We just thought that gives us three solid pairs. We think Borgman is really starting to come and settle in and so we don’t have to be as concerned about matchups. We can roll him out the door more.”
LOOSE LEAFS
Patrick Marleau’s versatility is a bonus for Babcock, but using the veteran at centre, as the Leafs will do on Wednesday, is a stopgap measure as the coach tries to find combinations that work among his forwards. “It’s given us an option,” Babcock said. “We didn’t acquire him to play in the middle, to be honest with you. That was not our plan and not our intent. It’s what we’re doing right now.” … What does Ducks coach Randy Carlyle think of when he ponders the Leafs? “I see a young talented team trying to find its way,” Carlyle said on Tuesday. “They have talent. Everybody talks and looks at their lineup and what they need here and there, (but) they are a young group that’s growing together. Have they created their identity yet?” And as he has said before, coaching against the Leafs does not weigh on Carlyle emotionally. “( Coaching the Leafs from 2012-15) was a chapter in my life, I thought it was positive in the end, it might not have been as positive as it appeared, but for myself, I have no qualms about doing it,” Carlyle said. “It worked for me. I enjoyed my time. Good people.”