Ennis looks ‘shifty’ with Matthews
Babcock mixes up the lines in opening day of Leafs’ camp
Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Mike Babcock rolled out a version of his new forward lines on Friday and everyone took notice.
On the benches during scrimmage. Among team brass up in the stands, the spectators at the Gale Centre and perhaps even a certain unsigned forward sitting across the ocean, tracking it all on social media.
There was Auston Matthews, split from Zach Hyman and now paired with his “shifty” right winger Tyler Ennis. John Tavares and Mitch Marner were just missing on some creative passes in their much anticipated debut, with Hyman joining them on the left side. Josh Leivo was with a higher profile group he hopes leads him to steady work at left wing, while two unknown Swedes played with slick Finn Kasperi Kapanen on the fourth unit.
Assembled scribes had lots to chew on during the Maple Leafs’ first of three workout mornings of training camp.
At least one of Friday’s lines will change once William Nylander’s contract impasse is settled, but the restricted free agent and the team appear to have a wide gulf on term and salary. For now, it’s Ennis, who was signed with an eye to being a fourth line worker bee, with Matthews and Patrick Marleau. “Sometimes, things get old,” said Babcock of a long-standing reluctance to take Hyman away from Matthews’ flank the past two seasons.
“It will be interesting to see how all that goes. Right now you have, Tavares, Hyman and Marner and they’re just flying. It’s a pretty good feeling. Willy’s not here, so we’ll figure that out as time goes on.” Matthews scored a nifty shootout winner in a 2-1 scrimmage, going head-to-head with Tavares. “I thought we found each other out there a couple of times,” Matthews said of Ennis.
The latter put the moves on a couple of defencemen in making rushes and from behind the net, where everyone thought he’d try and find Matthews through traffic. Instead, he weaved and nearly tucked in a back-door goal. “I have to be shifty (Matthews’ description of him),” Ennis said. “I’m not the biggest guy (5-10, 170) so I’ve learned to always be moving, shake defenders and create space for myself.” Ennis also had a shot block that Marner called “psycho” to attempt in a meaningless camp game. But his contributions to the Buffalo Sabres, three 20-goal seasons, were forgotten when he struggled with the Minnesota Wild in 2017-18.
“There are a lot of people who doubted me, written me off,” Ennis said. “I’m here to show that I have a lot left to give. I don’t feel pressure, I feel excitement.”
Ennis says he’s not paying attention to the Nylander negotiations, which have now been overshadowed by the start of camp. Babcock was also pleased that Marner and Tavares hit it off. “One of the ways we were able to recruit John was by telling him ‘you’ll get to play with really good players,’” Babcock said. “That’s just the facts. Marner, in my opinion, for a guy like John, is the perfect winger. And Hyman gives him a really heavy body to always get the puck back.”