Maple Leafs’ veterans leading with their lips
Marleau, Hainsey take control to help team out of its recent tailspin Neither Patrick Marleau nor Ron Hainsey scored on Saturday night, but each played a big role in Toronto’s skid-stopping 4-3 win over the Ottawa Senators.
And if the Maple Leafs are to become one of the elite teams in the second half of the NHL season and into the playoffs, it will be in part because of the contribution Marleau and Hainsey have made in shaping their young teammates.
Both have stellar resumes. Marleau is in his 20th season, Hainsey his 15th. Marleau remains a gifted skater with an ability to score. Hainsey is a Stanley Cup champion whose attention to detail brings out the best in others. They were signed by the Leafs not just because they are good at hockey but because of the intangibles they bring to the locker room and the ice.
In an age of analytics, things like leadership, authority and guidance can be forgotten or overlooked because they can’t be measured.
Marleau and Hainsey are leaders who guide their new younger teammates with authority. And Leafs head coach Mike Babcock is glad to have them.
“That to me is what you want,” Babcock said. “You want your veteran guys who have done a lot of winning to have a stake in it and make you a better team.”
On the heels of goalie Frederik Andersen calling out his teammates after blowing another lead Thursday, Marleau stepped forward Saturday night in the second intermission, giving the speech that turned a moribund performance through two periods against Ottawa into a winning effort in the third.
“You don’t want to have to do that,” Marleau said. “You want the team to be clicking on all cylinders.”
He simply reminded his teammates to play the system, work together and compete harder.
“When we do that, we’re a dangerous team,” he said. “You’ve got to learn from your mistakes. When things go the wrong way . . . nobody likes to go through it but you can definitely take a lesson from it and try to make sure it doesn’t happen in again.”
Late in the game, with the Leafs having a faceoff in their own end after an icing, Hainsey essentially manhandled rookie Travis Dermott before the draw, making sure the blueliner knew where to stand and where to go when the puck was dropped.
“We had real good internal leadership,” Babcock said. “We talked about Frederik and we had it again (Saturday) night between periods with Marleau.
“Those things are real important. You saw at the end, Ron Hainsey running everything. When players take over the team and own what they do, you’re a much better team.”
The term the Leafs have been using is “internal accountability.”
“As the team continues to grow and grow, you’ll see more of it,” Hainsey said. “As expectations go up, I think that certain things that maybe weren’t addressed will be as it becomes harder and harder to win. One thing I’ve learned, the more the expectation goes up, the more you want to do well, the more attention in all areas is needed. That’s just going to be a progression here.”
The Leafs took Sunday off even though the red-hot Colorado Avalanche are coming to town Monday.
The day off was a reward for beating the Senators, ending an 0-1-3 skid marked by defensive breakdowns late in games.
“It’s important we went through the adversity we went through, I really do believe that,” Babcock said. “I think we became better. Now we have to dig in and win some games, get on a bit of a roll.”
The Leafs are far from out of the woods. It was just one win, against a team that was second last in the Eastern Conference. The Avalanche are a much more formidable foe, coming to town on a nine-game win streak.
The status of defenceman Morgan Rielly remains up in the air, leaving the Leafs with two rookies, Dermott and Andreas Borgman, on the blue line.
“(Rielly) is obviously a big part of our group and there has been an adjustment as a lot of guys step in and some guys rotate and get called up,” Hainsey said. “But all teams go through this. We’ve been pretty fortunate as far as defencemen injuries.”