Doughty buys in after tease
D-man pumps Leafs but thinks they need a guy like Phaneuf
Say this about Drew Doughty: The Los Angeles Kings star speaks the truth.
It’s just the way he is. He says what’s on his mind and he means it.
Growing up in London, Ont., Doughty was always a Kings fan. So he heard it plenty of times from friends who loved the Maple Leafs, about just how good the blue and white were going to be year in and year out.
“Ever since I was 5 years old, it was the same stuff at the beginning of the year,” said Doughty.
He was right when he didn’t buy the hype back then.
This year, he says, something’s different.
“This time, I definitely think the Leafs are for real,” Doughty said before the Kings fell 4-1 to the Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Monday night.
The Leafs — powered by Auston Matthews and Morgan Rielly — won five of their first six games, including four straight on the road. Matthews led the NHL with 10 goals and 14 points going into Monday, when he tacked on a pair of assists. Rielly was right behind with 13 points and was named the league’s second star of the week for his one-goal, six-assist output over three games.
That impresses his one-time defence partner Dion Phaneuf, the former captain of the Maple Leafs now with the Kings.
“He’s a great defenceman who’s matured,” said Phaneuf. “For him to have the start he’s had, it’s nice to see. I’m happy for him.”
Praise from respected opponents aside, the Leafs are more concerned about taking incremental steps forward. Each game, they believe, they can be a bit better. That’s the key to any longterm success this season.
“We have a lot of room to get better,” said Rielly. “The game in Washington was a big step. If you look at the boxscores of our games thus far, they’ve been high. There have been too many goals against. There probably have been too many shots against. That’s an area where we can get better. If you want to win for a long time, you have to keep the puck out of our own net. That’s an area we have to focus on.”
The Leafs’ primary measuring stick — after the score, of course — is high-end chances for and against, tracked by the research and development team led by Darryl Metcalf. The stats are largely proprietary and not available publicly unless they feel like sharing. After Saturday night’s 4-2 win in Washington, though, coach Mike Babcock said the Leafs had 12 high-end chances to the Capitals’ nine.
“That’s way too many,” said Babcock. “We normally give up about six high-end (chances). We weren’t able to stop the cycle. The best way to stop the cycle is to play in the other end, play in the offensive zone, have that puck. But it doesn’t always happen.”
Indeed, one solution to a porous defence is a better offence. The other, of course, is to play better defensively.
That’s not always on the goalies. Neither Frederik Andersen — day-to-day after tweaking his knee in practice — nor Garret Sparks, who got the start Monday night, had particularly good numbers through the early part of the season. Andersen has shown signs of getting out of his normal October funk a little earlier than usual, though, which would be welcome.
It was not lost on Doughty that the Leafs need help on the blue line. He said Leafs centre Nazem Kadri, a childhood friend and former teammate in minor hockey, tried to lobby him to come to Toronto as a free agent to no avail. Doughty signed an eight-year, $88-million U.S. contract extension in July rather than wait until Canada Day next year to test free agency.
All the while, he toyed publicly with coming to the Leafs even though he says now he wasn’t serious.
“I enjoyed hearing all those questions about me coming (to Toronto). It was fun,” said Doughty. “I obviously considered it, but never seriously considered it. I would have had to wait a whole ’nother year. I kind of always knew I was going to stay here (in L.A.) but I said that stuff in the media (about Toronto) to make sure they didn’t try to screw me.”
Doughty also said his playing partner, Phaneuf, would look good in Toronto again.
“The Leafs could use him now, having a veteran guy like that on the back end, but we’re happy to have him here and he’s going to help us,” said Doughty.
Matthews said a commitment to defence takes time.
“Throughout the season, the team buys in more and more,” said Matthews. “In this group, we’ve got a lot of guys here that are willing to buy in. Every day, little improvements of our game can make a big difference.”