Good problem on the blue- line
Young defenders may force Leafs brass to make difficult decisions
BOSTON — If Mike Babcock has difficult decisions to make, so be it.
The Maple Leafs coach wouldn’t have it any other way.
Defencemen Travis Dermott and Justin Holl not only have stepped into the lineup with relative ease, but also have more than held their heads above water.
Now, it’s not to suggest that if one of, or both, Morgan Rielly and Ron Hainsey are fit to play on Saturday night against the Boston Bruins in what likely will serve as a firstround playoff preview, they will continue to sit.
“Let’s not kid ourselves here,” Babcock said. “( Rielly and Hainsey) are real good players. They’re playing if they are ready. We will sort out the rest of it after that.”
The “rest of it” on the blueline boils down to the immediate futures of Dermott, Holl, Connor Carrick and Andreas Borgman. It goes without saying that Jake Gardiner and Nikita Zaitsev, who on average play more than any other Leafs, are cemented in their spots.
Dermott has been poised in his 10 games in the National Hockey League and though it’s a small sample size, the argument could be made that he has moved ahead of Carrick and Borgman on the depth chart.
Holl is a Leaf on an emergency basis with Roman Polak on injured reserve because of a viral infection, but through two games, one would be hard- pressed to find holes in Holl’s overall performance.
There was the belief following the Leafs’ 4- 0 victory in New York against the Rangers on Thursday night that Rielly is ready to return after missing six games with what is thought to be an elbow injury. The status of Hainsey, sick the past two games, also will be clearer on Saturday.
There were several possibilities for Babcock to take into consideration on Friday as players had the day off and set out into the city with their fathers.
Holl has put himself in an intriguing spot. The shiny attraction to the 26- year- old comes in the form of him scoring in each of his two games; if Holl is in the lineup against the Bruins and he scores, he would become the first defenceman in the history of the NHL to score in each of his first three games in the league.
And Holl is at 59 per cent Corsi in 32 minutes 10 seconds of ice time during five- on- five play. Of the Leafs’ nine goals in their past two games, all at even- strength, Holl has been on the ice for five.
“Those goals are great and good for him,” Babcock said. “That’s not what I’m looking at.
“Can he break the puck out, does he know where to stand in the D zone, can he play the rush? He’s a big guy, skates good, very intelligent, looks like a good player to me. We will just keep watching him and figure out what we’re doing.”
Holl had no expectations when the Leafs called him up.
“I’ll just keep playing as long as they tell me to,” Holl said. “I believe I can play at this level ( on a fulltime basis). It has been a longer road, but you just keep working. I feel like I still had something left to give in hockey ( after starting his pro career in the ECHL in 201415), and here we are.”
We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, but it’s worth pondering whether the play of the young defencemen will influence general manager Lou Lamoriello’s search for blue- line help in the final weeks before the Feb. 26 trade deadline.
There’s speculation that the Leafs could have an interest in the Rangers’ Ryan McDonagh or Oliver Ekman- Larsson of the Arizona Coyotes, and for one of those trades to happen, a valued youngster in the form of William Nylander or Mitch Marner probably would have to be moved. Those can’t be options that would be easy for Lamoriello to digest.
Bottom line is that Dermott and Holl are proving themselves, and doing it well. Moving around the defence pieces, deciding who should be in or out, is a good problem for Babcock to contemplate.
“You try to go with the opportunity you have and whatever happens, happens,” Dermott said. “You just want to showcase what you have.”