Deadline deals send message to Leafs’ vets
Adding Boyle and Fehr comment on leadership club needs from Bozak, Kadri and van Riemsdyk
In explaining the reasoning behind the Maple Leafs’ pre-trade-deadline acquisitions, head coach Mike Babcock didn’t talk much about speed or skill or statistics.
He spoke mostly about example-setting, and how Brian Boyle and Eric Fehr, the pair of 30-something fourth-line grinders who joined the team this week, might make an impact beyond anything that happens on the ice.
They’re both “winners,” Babcock said. The Maple Leafs, he figured, were in need of some.
“We want our young guys being around as many guys like that as we possibly can,” Babcock said. “You get used to winning and you know how to win. And you prepare like a winner, you live like a winner, you act like a winner, you do things like a winner — the next thing you know, you’re winning. Then what happens is, that wears off on other people.”
Babcock was speaking after Thursday’s morning skate at the Staples Center, where the Maple Leafs were later slated to play the Los Angeles Kings in one of the 20 games remaining on Toronto’s regular-season schedule. The 32-year-old Boyle, who made his Maple Leafs debut in Tuesday’s 3-1 loss in San Jose, skated on the fourth line with Matt Martin and Nikita Soshnikov. The 31-year-old Fehr, who only arrived in L.A. at 1:30 a.m. Thursday on a flight from Dallas through Chicago after being acquired from Pittsburgh on Wednesday, took part in the skate but was not expected to be in Thursday’s lineup.
If the coach seemed more than happy to have them both, it’s fair to say his belief in the power of hockey’s intangibles is, um, tangible. Speaking of Fehr, Babcock described the six-foot-four forward as a “good man.”
“He’s here to be a good influence in the room and be a good pro. And ideally some of his habits wear off on our guys,” Babcock said. “Between him and Boyler, I think we’ve really improved that part of our room, which is real important for us.”
That the Maple Leafs braintrust saw the need for an influx of example-setters might not say much for the veteran players who’ve been around Toronto a while. And if the presence of Boyle and Fehr wasn’t a not-so-subtle comment on the incumbent leadership, Babcock was more than explicit about what he’s expecting from Toronto’s handful of longer-tenured Leafs — the likes of Tyler Bozak, James van Riemsdyk and Nazem Kadri.
“(San Jose’s) veteran players were better than our veteran players and really set the tone (on Tuesday). We can’t have that again,” Babcock said. “We’ve got to respond here.”
The best response, of course, would be a win, which, one assumes, would take the Leafs a step closer to being considered winners. Exactly how “winner” is defined, mind you, is an unscientific thing. Boyle apparently falls into the category even though he hasn’t hoisted the Stanley Cup; his status as the NHLer who has played the most playoff games since 2011 (an even 100) apparently lets him into the club.
In five of Fehr’s first eight seasons in the league he was on teams that were either eliminated in the first round or missed the playoffs. The other three seasons his Washington Capitals teams won a grand total of three playoff series. But thanks to last season’s run to the Stanley Cup, wherein he averaged 12 minutes a game in 23 playoff games, he’s now considered an authority on what it takes to prevail in the playoffs. Ditto Boyle, who was on back-to-back Cup finalists in New York and Tampa Bay in 2014 and 2015.
“When you come into a team, you don’t want to ruffle too many feathers. But I think I’ve been a part of some great teams with some great veteran guys that have really shown me the way,” Boyle said. “Ultimately the goal is to win games. Sometimes things happen in a room where it’s not necessarily telling people what they want to hear all the time. But again, you have to be supportive of one another. Positivity will bring out the best in one another.
“I’m walking in here, my first impression is, it’s a close team. Young guys with a lot of energy. They’re excited to play the game. That’s going to rub off on me, too. I’m excited about that. I still love playing the game. I’ve never really lost any of that. It’s exciting to come to this opportunity. It’s a storied franchise, obviously, to say the least.”
Fehr, who is old enough to have previously played in the NHL alongside Michael Nylander, the father of Leafs rookie William, said he’s happy to help mould a younger generation of promising pros.
“A lot of things are new for them right now. They’re learning. I think it’s easy for us just to go about our business and try and be a good example,” Fehr said. “And if you see something and want to talk to the young guys about something, just kind of approach them one on one. I think that’s probably the best thing to do.”
Boyle and Fehr aren’t here to embarrass anybody in front of the group, in other words. They aren’t here to start publicly calling out laggards. If feathers need ruffling, after all, Babcock can always be relied upon to rise to the occasion. Two more experienced hands at the coach’s disposal give him two more motivational tools as the push for the playoffs continues.
Said Babcock: “Whoever’s playing the best is getting to play the most. So that’s the great thing about this time of year.”