Leafs’ speed without the puck makes them dangerous, Hitch says

Ken Hitchcock didn’t need to see the Maple Leafs a lot in live action to get a handle on Mike Babcock’s impact on the club.

Before the Dallas Stars played the Leafs on Wednesday for the teams’ second and last meeting this season, Hitchcock commented on one of the reasons why the Leafs have developed into an upper-echelon club in the NHL.

“Mike has them playing with speed without the puck,” Hitchcock, the Stars coach, said. “And that’s the new NHL. They’re as good as it gets in the NHL where they use their speed and tenacity to create problems for you.

“He has them playing at a tempo without the puck that’s high and hot and can break you down. It causes all kinds of problems on every little detail.

“If you don’t change properly, he burns you. If you don’t have the right read when you think you are forechecking, the next thing you know he has airmailed something over top of you and you’re in trouble. He has done a great job of getting this team to buy into speed without the puck. Everybody talks about how quick the game is with the puck, it’s no faster now than it used to be. Where it’s really quick is the reckless play without and he has his team on top of that, especially in this building.”

The Stars are in the midst of a six-game trip, with five of those games against Eastern Conference teams.

“The speed factor out here is significant,” Hitchcock said. “Pittsburgh set the table.

“(The Leafs are) like Pittsburgh. It’s speed and anticipation. When everybody knows where the puck is going and you arrive there with numbers, you are going to be a tough team to play against. Toronto has that game going right now.

“You need people who can skate. It’s not just skating with puck. It’s creating numerical advantages when you are in a defensive posture. All you do is make one play and you bring numbers to the area and take advantage of it. Toronto does it as good as anybody in the league.”

Ron Hainsey had a teamhigh 135 shot blocks for the Leafs prior to playing the Stars.

Don’t suggest to the veteran defenceman that, perhaps, skill is involved.

“Well, if you count standing in the way between you and the goalie as a skill set, then I guess that would be accurate,” Hainsey said, deadpan.

“It’s more about where you are positioned. The way, at least on the penalty kill, it works is if the other team makes enough plays there is usually a defenceman standing close to the net in between the shooter and the goalie and sometimes it hits him.

“They tell me where to stand and then I stand there and then if it hits me, that’s where it’s at.”

Does Mike Babcock project Andreas Johnsson as a full-time Maple Leaf next season?

“I think so, for sure,” the Leafs coach said. “But in saying that, our job is to find more players. That’s the beauty about hockey. The truth today is not the truth tomorrow. If you get someone better … that’s just the way it is.”

Johnsson made his NHL debut for the Leafs on Wednesday night against the Dallas Stars, the milestone game coming following a remarkable rise after Toronto chose him 202nd overall in 2013.

With 54 points in 54 games with the Toronto Marlies this season, there’s no question Johnsson — a restricted free agent this summer — will be knocking hard on the door at camp in September.

While Johnsson is another representation of the Leafs’ depth, Babcock wants more.

“In the middle of the ice we still have to get way deeper,” Babcock said. “We’re deeper than we were and we’re not deep enough, we have to get better. Part of that is mature depth, that you know you can play.”