Fun and games at Leaf practice
It wasn’t all sweat and toil at new coach Randy Carlyle’s first home workout
It lasted nearly two hours. But Randy Carlyle, taskmaster, was also Randy Carlyle, fun-meister, in running his first Maple Leafs practice at Etobicoke’s Mastercard Centre. Here’s how it went: 12:22: Marlies call-up Jay Rosehill is first on the ice. 12:30: By now all the players are out and warming up. It’s clear by jersey colour who’s on which line and Tim Connolly, it’s quickly noted, has dropped to the fourth line. He’s one of five players wearing fourth-line maroon. 12:22: New assistant coach Dave Farrish explains two-puck shinny. All 23 players play at the same time. Left-handers play right-handed. Righties play left-handed. Dion Phaneuf struggles with the concept. Connolly misses the net from two feet. Mike Komisarek sails through two defenders for a scoring chance. Carl Gunnarsson gets the only goal. 12:28: Farrish explains three-player break-out patterns, with two forwards going on 2-on-0s. 12:45: Skate hard for one lap and rehydrate. 12:47: One-on-ones, forwards on defence. One Leaf employee, watching from the stands, says: “We’re doing one-onones? This is like a Pat Burns practice.” 1:00: 5-on-3 rushes out of the zone. The pass goes RW to RD back to RW with all five rushing (or LW to LD to LW). Carlyle calls out Jake Gardiner for not doing it fast enough. 1:04: Carlyle chats with the forwards before drill resumes. 1:14: Assistant coach Greg Cronin talks to the penalty-kill units, assistant Scott Gordon to the power-play units. Carlyle takes over the chat with the power-play units. Connolly switches sweaters, to red for the power play. It looks as if he’ll get fourth-line minutes 5-on-5 and power-play time. 1:24: Carlyle stops the power play, telling them not to use the boards to pass in the offensive zone “unless you have to,” explaining it’s too easy for the other team to intercept. 1:29: Carlyle explains to the power play that he wants the forwards to cycle around the net to the goalie’s left in order to draw defencemen in that direction, which opens up a lane on the goalie’s right. 1:35: Some 5-on-5 neutral-zone play. As boring as it sounds. 1:40: Mike Brown departs practice early. Carlyle says later he has a sore hand. 1:44: Leafs start the 5-on-0. It’s not as silly as it sounds. It sets the template for passing on the rush. 1:58: Stops and starts. Carlyle is serious about fitness. 2:04: More silliness. Carlyle gets his players to shoot from various places — from one net to the other, from the blue line, from centre. The goal? Score, and you and your line can skip the next stops and starts. By the end, only Colby Armstrong has failed to score on any of his chances. 2:12: After one last gathering, Connolly, Joffrey Lupul and Phil Kessel are the first to leave the ice. Practice is over.
Enforcer Jay Rosehill returned to the Maple Leafs on Monday, his exile in the AHL coming to an end at the request of new head coach Randy Carlyle.
“Rosehill is obviously an aggressive player, a big guy who has to be a physical force, has to be an energy player, has to defend teammates if that’s called upon,” said Carlyle. “We always want to make sure we have that comfort for our skilled players.” That’s fine with Rosehill. “I got this far knowing what to do and when to do it and I don’t plan on changing too much,” said Rosehill, who played very little under coach Ron Wilson.
The former coach preferred speed and skill ahead of knuckles. It was one of the points on which Wilson and GM Brian Burke disagreed.
Rosehill and fellow enforcer Colton Orr were frequent healthy scratches under Wilson. Both were eventually dispatched to the Marlies.
Orr remains with the Marlies. Rosehill, the better skater of the two, will get a second shot with the Leafs under Carlyle, who likes to have toughness in his lineup.
“I’m excited — a new coach, a new atmosphere,” said Rosehill, first on the ice for practice. “Hopefully I get an opportunity here and make the most of it. There’s definitely a different energy here.”
Whether Rosehill plays Tuesday night against Boston may hinge on the status of forward Mike Brown, who left practice early nursing a sore hand, said Carlyle.