WORLD JUNIORS
Leafs see hockey showcase as a way to accelerate the learning curve for Rasmus Sandin and others.
Five years ago, a Swedish coach changed Rasmus Sandin’s life. He took an offensively gifted forward and made him a defenceman.
“I was a forward until I was 13, then I switched to defence. That helps a lot with my offensive game,” said Sandin, who remembers that coach only by his first name (Andreas). “But I played the point on the power play. He just left me there.”
Sandin was the Maple Leafs’ top pick in the 2018 draft, and became the first player born in the year 2000 to score in the AHL with the Marlies. The Leafs have loaned Sandin to Sweden for the world junior hockey championship.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” Sandin said. “I always wanted to play in the world juniors. To get a chance to play there this year will be an awesome experience. I get to meet all my old friends again. Yeah, it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Sandin’s countryman and Marlies teammate, Timothy Liljegren, will not be joining him, ruled out due to a high ankle sprain. Other Leafs prospects are sprinkled through the tournament, including Canadian goalie Ian Scott, Czech winger Filip Kral and Swedish winger Pontus Holmberg.
Sandin may have leapfrogged Liljegren, the Leafs’ top pick in the 2017 draft, on the depth chart. Sandin has five goals and five assists in 18 games with the Marlies, third behind Calle Rosen and Andreas Borgman for points by a defenceman on Toronto’s top farm team.
“He’s played well. He’s 18 years old, playing in a tough league,” said Marlies blueliner Vincent LoVerde. “I don’t know what I was doing when I was 18, but I certainly wasn’t playing in the AHL. Coming into training camp, I wasn’t sure who or what he was, or how far along he was since he was firstrounder.
“I’ve been very impressed with him so far. His maturity on and off the ice is something that helps him in his game. Doesn’t have too many highs, too many lows. That’s a credit to him.”
The journey to the world juniors should do Sandin a world of good.
“It will be huge,” said Marlies coach Sheldon Keefe. “It’s a prestigious event, a chance to play for your country, all those things. We’ve had players who have played at that event before — Kasperi Kapanen, William Nylander. It’s very healthy for them to have that opportunity.”
The 2015 experience in Helsinki was incredible for Kapanen. He scored the golden goal in overtime as Finland beat Russia.
“The confidence he got through that, he ended up being a guy who scored some big goals and made some big plays for us in the playoffs that year as well,” Keefe said. “He got a reputation for being a big-moment type of player. Those type of things can be born in those events, when you’re playing against your peers. It’s your own level, your own age group. It’s a great event.”
While the front office with the Marlies has praised Sandin’s poise playing among men, Sandin’s self-confidence is clearly evident.
“I think I’m playing really confidently,” he said. “I’ve always been pretty confident about myself. I’m getting more and more ice time out there. I think I’m making my decisions a little bit quicker.”