LEAFS NEARLY BACK TO FULL STRENGTH
Marner expected to return soon and play again on Tavares line — without Hyman
If Frederik Andersen’s work in goal has helped Sheldon Keefe look smarter, getting top scorer Mitch Marner back could elevate the coach to genius level.
The return of Marner, to make the Leafs lineup whole for the first time this year (other than injured Trevor Moore), could be a few days ahead of schedule after Marner breezed through his first practice Monday, post-ankle sprain.
Marner can’t play until Wednesday at the earliest against Colorado — he’s more likely to suit at the start of the western road trip, which begins Saturday
in St. Louis — rounding out the four-week projection on his absence. But Keefe’s forward line changes Monday gave a hint that Marner will be part of a more ambitious new-look attack.
The two-time leading scorer was with regular centre John Tavares Monday, but for the first time will be split away from Zach Hyman on the left side.
Ilya Mikheyev will remain in that spot, while Hyman drops to third-line left-winger with centre Alex Kerfoot and Kasperi Kapanen.
Three solid lines featuring three scoring centres was the plan under Mike Babcock, but he didn’t survive the injury attrition of Hyman’s absence from knee surgery, Tavares’s broken finger and then Marner’s ankle. Marner also will play on a remodelled top power play unit with Auston Matthews and William Nylander, quarterbacked by Tyson Barrie in place of Morgan Rielly.
While recuperating, Marner watched the team struggle under Babcock, then win four of its first five under Keefe, who is not as rigid in his ways and wants the Leafs to hang on to the puck a bit longer.
That plays to the strengths of players such as Marner and Nylander.
“No question what (Marner) means to our group,” Tavares said.
“He’s is a big leader for us and wants to do that with his play. We all know about his creativity, his ability to see the game with the puck and without it and how well he can play defensively for us. He’ll pick up seamlessly and the (Keefe) style will suit him well.”
Marner had been in the gym most of the time since the Nov. 9 injury during a home game against the Flyers, though not out of the news. When Babcock was fired 11 days later, his mistreatment of Marner in his rookie year came to light — making Marner list his opinions on the best to least hardest-working Leafs, then sharing it with the team. It spurred some other revelations of harsh coaching tactics around pro hockey.
But Marner made a return to play his focus the last couple of days, revving up his rehab on the ice with Moore so that Monday’s workout was pain free. He went right from the ice to a scrum of reporters without needed treatment on the ankle.
“I feel like I’ve worked pretty hard in the gym and kept my conditioning up,” Marner said. “Hopefully (he’s back) soon, take it day by day tomorrow, then the next day and go from there.”
He steered away from comparing Babcock’s game plan to what he’s seen of Keefe’s from the press box.
“I’m just excited to join the team; it’s nice being back on the ice with them, joking around with them.”
Keefe said Mikheyev has been impressive enough with Tavares to warrant a longer look with the captain.
“We’ve liked how that line (with Hyman on the left) has done, but probably bigger than that for me, I want to see what Zach’s presence and skill set can do with Kerfoot and Kapanen. That’s a line we really have to get going not just on offence, but to be hard on the other team’s better lines. If we can have that as a potential matchup for us to free up our other lines, that can work really well for us.”
Then the question becomes if and when Keefe moves Jason Spezza and Nic Petan down to the fourth line and breaks up the three Toronto Marlies grads who played well in the home and home with Buffalo: Dmytro Timashov, Pierre Engvall and Frederik Gauthier.
As for Andersen, who has yet to lose with Keefe behind the bench (4-0), he starts against the Flyers Tuesday in Philadelphia.
He’s is a big leader for us and wants to do that with his play. We all know about his creativity, his ability to see the game