MARLIES STEP UP FOR BATTERED LEAFS’ BLUE-LINE
Five of 2018 Calder Cup champion team lace up for pressure-packed playoff race
Don’t worry, says Justin Holl, the depleted Maple Leafs have a Cup-winning defence.
That would be the 2018 Calder Cup, with five members of that Marlies blue-line now thrust into major roles on the eve of what a couple of Leafs called “the most important game of the year.”
Toronto is set to face the Florida Panthers on Thursday, followed by 17 more games down the stretch of a pressure-packed NHL playoff race.
But with a sense of excitement, adventure — and sadness that Jake Muzzin’s broken hand puts him on the injured list with Morgan Rielly and Cody Ceci — the Not-ready-for-prime-time-players insist they can fill the bill.
Behind senior man Tyson Barrie’s 458 NHL games, there’s Martin Marincin (222), Travis Dermott (151) Holl (75), rookies Rasmus Sandin and Timothy Liljegren and 16-game journeyman Calle Rosen, reacquired from Colorado on Monday and summoned from the farm 48 hours later.
Barrie and Marincin have been branded weak links by critics, with Barrie facing a mountain of trade rumours before it was agreed the pending free agent would stay until the end of the season.
You don’t need to necessarily fill the person’s shoes you’re replacing, but just do what you do well.
But you wouldn’t have known there was a crisis on Wednesday, as the Marlie grads were reunited with Rosen and all basked in Tuesday’s 4-3 upset win over the Tampa Bay Lightning after Muzzin exited in the second period. Sandin and Liljegren had a rough night, but held together in the late going. And the unlikely shutdown pair of Holl and the offensive-minded Dermott managed to secure the win.
“There’s a lot of familiar faces for me,” said their Marlie mentor, Sheldon Keefe. “Bringing Rosen back is pretty close to the Calder champion defence. That’s the good thing, my comfort level in these guys, my confidence. These guys are not AHL defencemen, that’s the big thing.
“If (Rosen) hadn’t been included in that (July trade with Nazem Kadri to Colorado) he’d have had a really good chance to play in the NHL this season (with the Leafs). We added him for depth and now you’re going to need him. Now other guys have taken on big minutes, big responsibilities and they’re ready for more.”
Based on Wednesday’s practice, first round picks Sandin and Liljegren won’t be put in a vulnerable tag team situation again, Sandin paired with Barrie. Dermott and Holl stay put, Marincin will have Liljegren’s back and Holl and Marincin will get penalty killing duties. Muzzin is gone four weeks, Rielly and Ceci won’t be back soon. The Leafs are also without forwards Ilya Mikheyev and Andreas Johnsson, the latter out for the rest of the season.
“It’s part of the gig, right?” said Keefe, whose experience in the AHL through many 3-in-3 weekends with injuries and NHL call-ups saw all manner of lineup machinations. “It’s the reason you acquire depth, the reason you develop players, why you have a good and healthy minor league system. So if these situations happen, you can press on. We’ve done it before without Rielly and Ceci, and now Muzzin.”
Holl and Dermott joked that they expected journeyman Vincent Loverde (AHL, Hartford now) to walk through the dressing room door and complete the celebratory picture from 2018.
“It’s really been a crazy year in terms of injuries,” Holl said. “I’ve never been part of anything like this.”
He noted the Leafs have been getting it hammered into them by coaches about team defence all year anyway, so why not use this the coming days as the ultimate test?
“It’s definitely a point to be emphasized now. It hurts losing three of your defenceman at any point, especially together, but we know we can step up and do it.
“Whatever your role is, play it. You don’t need to necessarily fill the person’s shoes you’re replacing, but just do what you do well.”