Leafs Marleau, Matthews and Martin earn mentions in an NHLPA poll
TORONTO — “Only third …”
That was Morgan Rielly’s response at Toronto Maple Leafs practice Wednesday, when the topic of Auston Matthews’ mention in the National Hockey League Players’ Association poll was brought up.
The poll ranked the top five players in a host of categories, and Matthews earned third mention in the category asking which player would you start a franchise with.
Rielly hadn’t seen the results when he was scrummed by the media after practice Wednesday. He “thought it (ranking) would be higher” for Matthews. But it was hard to argue the top two choices — Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid.
The Leafs actually did quite well in the poll, which was floated during training camps last fall, and garnered over 500 player responses, representing all 31 teams.
Matthews, who skated for about 30 minutes in his first full practice Wednesday since his shoulder injury two weeks ago, was joined by Patrick Marleau (role model) and Matt Martin (toughest player) in the player’s poll. Assistant coach DJ Smith was the only Leaf to earn a top mention — as the assistant who will make an NHL head coach one day.
Leafs coach Mike Babcock was fourth in the category asking which coach would you most like to play for (Joel Quenneville was tops, followed by Jon Cooper, Gerard Gallant, Babcock, and Peter Laviolette).
Toronto, beyond a four-game winless streak at the moment, has established itself as a top three team in the Eastern Conference so far this season. That success, which is buoyed by an offence that features one of the NHL’s highest goals per game mark, and the top goals in high danger areas mark, may have been expected among the players as they approached the poll last fall.
Goalie Freddie Andersen did not earn a mention in the goalie category — which goalie is hardest to score against — despite facing the most shots of any goalie in the NHL. Carey Price earned top mention there, followed by Jonathan Quick, Pekke Rinne, Sergei Bobrovsky, and Brayden Holtby.
In broader categories, Toronto did not earn a mention from the players in categories ranking the top five arenas in the league, the best ice, and the worst ice.
Toronto fans, however, were fourth in the player’s minds, when it came to the best fans (outside your own team) in the league (Chicago fans were ranked tops, followed by Nashville, Montreal, Toronto, and Winnipeg).
Inside the Leafs locker-room, Smith was the most talked about Leaf, given his work ethic, his approach, and his rapid rise since Babcock recruited him following Smith’s Memorial Cup win with Oshawa in the 2014-15 season.
“He’s done a lot for this team,” Rielly said of Smith, who handles the defenceman on the Leafs roster, and sets the penalty kill.
“He’s great to work with, for me personally he helped me with all the little aspects, and he lets you be a young player, make mistakes, and then as you gain experience, he gives you more and more responsibilities … he lets you grow,” he said.
“I think he would make a great (NHL head coach), for sure, I can see that,” Rielly added.
It was Babcock who gave Smith his NHL break; the Leafs coach, who relentlessly pursues outside information about the game, in order to learn more about it, was something of a surprise to Smith when he phoned him following the Memorial Cup win, asking for a meeting to discuss becoming a part of Babcock’s coaching staff with the Leafs.
“I’m a big believer that the (junior hockey) is like NHL lites,” Babcock said.
“He (Smith) has a good ability to talk to people. He understands the game, he’s been here three years now and he’ll have success as a head coach.”
The players, meanwhile, were also asked to rank their choices for the top players of all time. Here’s the results:
• Best forward of all time: Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Sidney Crosby, Jaromir Jagr, and Peter Forsberg
• Best defenceman of all time: Bobby Orr, Nicklas Lidstrom, Ray Bourque, Paul Coffey, Scott Niedermayer.
• Best goalie of all time: Patrick Roy, Martin Brodeur, Dominik Hasek, Carey Price, and Ken Dryden.