Bruiser Clifford ready to rumble with Jackets
As much as his instincts might have told him to do otherwise, Kyle Clifford held back during Maple Leafs scrimmages the past couple of weeks.
Clifford didn’t put any opponents — otherwise known as Leafs teammates — through the boards during the camp friendlies, nor did the bruising winger line up anyone for an open ice hit.
The Leafs know they’re going to have their hands full with a hardnosed Columbus Blue Jackets group in the best-of-five qualifying round. As intense as the scrimmages were, Clifford is among the Leafs equipped to turn his physical dial up to 11 once the qualifier starts.
“There’s a line (in camp) and you don’t really want to be flirting with it because you don’t want to injure your guys, but at the same time, you want to make sure your teammates are ready for what Columbus is going to bring,” Clifford said. “We know the hard, heavy game they’re going to bring. If you got an opportunity to take somebody’s head off (during scrimmages), you have to let up a little bit because we don’t want any injuries coming out of camp.”
Among the factors in the qualifying round the Leafs can bank on is that the Jackets won’t be full of surprises. We wouldn’t imply that necessarily works in the Leafs’ favour.
“They’re absolutely one of the hardest-working teams in the league, so I think it’s a good matchup for us,” Clifford said. “It’s a really good test for our club. There’s only one way to win this series and that’s to work hard and be focused on what we have to do.
“I know we have a lot of skill, but there are two parts (to success) — the work ethic and skill set.”
Auston Matthews was asked on Thursday whether the Leafs will be ready to play after an abbreviated camp with just one exhibition game.
“I don’t know. We’ll find out shortly,” Matthews said. “It’s different circumstances than normal, but every team’s pretty much going through the same thing, so there’s really no excuse.
“We’re trying to get as ready as possible as a team and not really worrying about what other teams are doing or how the teams look.”
Matthews said he figured the Jackets will provide “a variety” of challenges.
“They’re really good defensive team and they’re well-coached, they play with a lot of structure, so they don’t give up much,” Matthews said. “Making sure we’re taking care of the puck, also playing with structure, not getting frustrated with what they’re doing (will be important).”
LINEUPS DUE
During a Zoom call with media on Friday, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly mentioned that clubs were asked to submit their 52-person travelling list for the bubble by Friday, including the 31-player roster.
Daly said the NHL hopes to release the player lists for each team over the weekend.
Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe intimated this past week that forward Andreas Johnsson, who continues to work his way back from knee surgery in February, would be included on the Leafs roster.
Based on what has been unfolding at camp, and with Keefe saying on Thursday that he feels “pretty close (to the playing roster) in the sense we’ve narrowed it down, we’ve got our 13 (forwards) and eight (defencemen) we’ve been working with,” we can make some fairly easy conclusions on the Game 1 lineup, outside of injuries or COVID-19 positives between now and Aug. 2.
Keefe has kept the door open, saying “a lot of things can change.”
Yet we anticipate just one decision has to be made at forward. If Nick Robertson plays in the opener against the Blue Jackets, either Pierre Engvall or Frederik Gauthier sits.
The top three defence pairs are set. Rasmus Sandin and Martin Marincin form the fourth pair.
We’ll be curious to see whether the Leafs take all four goaltenders into the bubble. Based on experience, Kasimir Kaskisuo presumably gets the nod over Joseph Woll as the third stringer after Frederik Andersen and Jack Campbell, if the Leafs take three netminders and not four.
Three or four players from among defencemen Calle Rosen, Teemu Kivihalme and Mac Hollowell, and forwards Nic Petan, Egor Korshkov, Kenny Agostino, Tyler Gaudet, Adam Brooks and Denis Malgin, will be left off the roster. Our guess is that Hollowell, Korshkov and Gaudet will be
among the odd men out.
LOOSE LEAFS
Keefe on Matthews’ progression: “A lot of the things that I was hoping to see from him in this camp, I’ve seen, and he is the least of my worries.” … The exhibition game isn’t until Tuesday, when the Leafs face the Montreal Canadiens at 8 p.m. at Scotiabank Arena, yet Andersen already was peering ahead. “It will be another step in the process,” Andersen said. “It’s important to get the timing going, and I think it has been going in the right direction. I’ve been feeling better and a real game will be great.” … The Leafs will practice on Saturday after having Friday off. Saturday will mark the last time media will have access to practice before the team heads into the bubble.