Laich takes leadership role
Veteran guidance valuable as Leafs lean on the kids
Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock and veteran forward Brooks Laich aren’t joined at the hip as mentor-guides now that the Leafs are icing more young players than ever before.
But the two share similarities in their roles, with the club’s focus now on providing opportunities for young players.
“The big thing is, he (Laich) is trying to get his game back, and once you do that you’re able to help the guys more,” Babcock said of Laich, the 32-year-old Saskatchewan native and veteran of 759 NHL games, 743 of them with Washington.
“But it’s obvious we have a lot of young guys here and you try to sign a guy to help them out . . . Brooks is very capable of doing that.”
The Leafs shuffled their roster prior to Thursday’s 4-1 loss in Buffalo, bringing Marlies forward Tobias Lindberg and captain Andrew Campbell up for their first NHL games of the season. And Lindberg became the 12th player to make his NHL debut for the Leafs this season, a modern-day record for the club. Overall, the two new debuts brought the number of players used by the Leafs this season to 45.
Babcock cannot perform his coaching duties, be a guide, a voice and a positive influence, for every player, every moment of the day. That’s where Laich feels he can balance the picture for the Leafs.
“I’ve always liked talking to younger players, it’s almost like a little brotherhood within the team there,” Laich said.
“We have guys like (Zach Hyman, Nikita Soshnikov, William Nylander) . . . the coaching staff will tell them what they’re doing wrong but, as older guys, we can support them in certain ways.”
Laich looks for moments and opportunities to boost the confidence of the younger players, especially a teenager like 19-year-old William Nylander. He remains a work in progress, a gifted skater and a skilled puck handler, yet still a novice when it comes to compete levels and properly managing the neutral and defensive zone.
Laich understands a rookie’s anxieties with points, making impressions and earning ice time and trust.
“I played with William’s father (Michael Nylander) and he was a great player. He was a player who always demanded the puck and you look for that in William, you try and reinforce that in his mind set if you can,” said Laich.
Laich also understands the mentor role in terms of its shelf life as the result of his own mentor role with brother Jordan, two years younger.
“I was always a big brother, but my brother grew up . . . he was a master electrician in the oil fields and now he’s a consultant and a father,” Laich said. “(Jordan) looked up to me, but now that he’s married and a father, and I’m engaged, I talk to him about what it’s like (children) and how it changes things.”