Avoiding COVID outbreak is next goal for Leafs
The Maple Leafs are preparing for Saturday night’s Blue and White game while trying to avoid the red light of COVID-19 that has disrupted camp for the Dallas Stars and Columbus Blue Jackets.
“Hopefully, those guys are all right,” centre Joe Thornton said Friday after being informed the Stars shut down their training facility and delayed their season opener, while the Jackets kept 19 players away from practice. “We’ve got masks on all the time around here, we get tested every day. During meetings we’re seven, eight feet apart.
“So we’re keeping it real tight and with that news coming out today, that’s a good thing, doing everything we can to be safe here.”
Head coach Sheldon Keefe said Friday’s developments around the NHL were disturbing and another reminder of how the virus has affected all pro sports. The Leafs’ lone exhibition, an intersquad game with 40- plus participants, will include a full set of NHL officials who’ve also gone through the league’s health protocols. The Ontario government just granted the Leafs and Ottawa Senators official permission to stage regular-season home games, after weeks of setting up strict rules with no fans to be allowed in, at least for now.
“We talked a lot with our players and staff about the importance of ( daily preventive measures),” Keefe said. “Not just because of what we’re trying to manage across the world, but there’s a competitive side to it within our season.
“Any time you have to remove players from your group, you’re at a disadvantage. It’s going to take lots of reminders and lots of discipline, but we’ve done a really good job to this point getting a buy- in from the players and staff.”
THE RIGHT STRIPES
Saturday will be one game Keefe won’t complain to the referees about penalties.
With some reconfigured short- handed units to test out and the need to get new assistant coach Manny Malhotra’s power- play plan some reps, Keefe might even shout out some Toronto transgressions rather than hope the zebras miss them.
The two power- play units on Friday were forwards Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, Joe Thornton and Wayne Simmonds with Morgan Rielly on defence, then John Tavares, William Nylander, Zach Hyman and Jason Spezza working with defenceman Mikko Lehtonen.
GAME ON
Usually the Leafs stage up to eight or nine pre- season contests, but that’s not possible with the schedule condensed to 56 games, starting Wednesday at Scotiabank Arena against Montreal. There will be three periods in the Blue and White game, the first two featuring shootouts and a five- minute overtime regardless of the three-period score.
The lineup will mix the 20 players the Leafs have used in their A group during the first five days of camp with the slightly smaller pack of taxi squad candidates and farm team Marlies. The final roster will be determined Saturday. It’s not clear if Keefe will coach one team or observe from the stands.
SPREADING THE NETS
Keefe plans to use three goaltenders Saturday, No. 1 Frederik Andersen, backup Jack Campbell and newcomer Aaron Dell, the first two playing a couple of periods and Dell 20 minutes for both sides.
LOOSE LEAFS
Third- line centre Alex Kerfoot remains day- to- day with a leg injury, suffered earlier this week when he crashed into the boards. He resumed skating Friday, but won’t play Saturday and remains questionable for Wednesday’s opener. Pierre Engvall took his place the past couple of days between Ilya Mikheyev and Hyman. ... Quote of the day goes to Marner, about his role on the line with Thornton and Matthews, “to be a bit of a worm in the slot” for the other two to feed. ... The Leafs broadcast schedule was announced on Friday, 38 games as part of the national Sportsnet package, 18 on TSN. The rival networks/majority MLSE owners will also split radio games, the number to be determined later. Though Joe Bowen will call the Blue and White game on Saturday’s joint TV broadcast, he and longtime colour man Jim Ralph will be exclusively on radio again during regular season. The plan is for all TV crews to be at the rink, rather than call games remotely, at least at the start of the season ... Keefe says that he’s known the 32-yearold Simmonds a lot longer than just this camp, back to 2005- 06 in Ontario junior A tier 2 when Simmonds’ Brockville Braves took on the Keefe-coached Pembroke Lumber Kings. “He used to give it to ( us) quite a bit, never a dull moment,” Keefe said.