Cracking Leafs’ defence will be a tall order
Rookies ready to battle for few spots available on Toronto blue line
Eemeli Rasanen is the tallest player in the Leafs’ rookie camp at six-foot-seven, but he hardly stands out among the nine blueliners in camp.
Seven of the nine rookie blue-liners are six-foot or better, and six of them are six-foot-four or more.
When asked if his great size gives him any advantage, Rasanen shrugs his shoulders in mild indifference: “I guess I have pretty good reach,” he says.
Rasanen, like the rest of the towering rookies, is more focused on skating, which is a core theme for the group over the three days of games and practices this weekend.
“For sure, you have to show you can skate and that you can skate at an NHL level,” says Rasanen, and the Leafs’ second-round selection this past June, who left Friday’s game early with an apparent ankle injury.
Right now, this impressive crop of rookie blue-liners arguably represents one of the most impressive groups of NHL hopeful defenceman the Leafs organization has seen in recent memory. But where size was once the ruling detail among prospects — and it still rates high — it has been upstaged by skating.
And right now, Travis Dermott and Andrew Nielsen — who played with the Marlies last season — may have a step on the rest of that promising group.
As it is with rookie camps, and the arrival of the opening of Leafs camp next week, talk turns to which rookie (s) look good enough to either start the season in the NHL, or sit high enough on the depth chart to be potential call-ups if injuries claim someone on the NHL roster.
But, these Leaf rookies are facing an NHL job market that is expected to be less advantageous for first-year players, when compared to last season, when there were 26 players 20 or younger who played at least 10 games in the NHL.
Toronto, which led the way a year ago with up to nine rookie regulars, graduated several players into the NHL from its rookie tournament. This year, that window is all but shut.
According to the talk surrounding camp, Dermott, who missed Friday’s 5-2 loss to Montreal’s rookie team with the flu, stands the greatest chance of cracking the Leafs’ blue line, which is all but spoken for with Morgan Rielly, Jake Gardiner, Nikita Zaitsev, Ron Hainsey and Connor Carrick, expected to claim spots in the top six. Martin Marincin has an inside track on the sixth spot, with a solid competition shaping up for the seventh.
Dermott and Nielsen are contenders. Toronto also signed Calle Rosen and Andreas Borgman, both with experience in Sweden. And there is chance Toronto could return free agent Roman Polak to the fold, if it decides to go with a veteran and keep its prospects in the AHL or junior, where they will play every game.
First-round pick Timothy Liljegren is also firmly in the mix; a debate may grow in the next few weeks as to whether the 18-year-old, who some consider NHL-ready, should at least be given a chance to finish his development with the Leafs this season.
Rasanen, a native of Joensuu, Finland, who scored six goals and added 33 assists and 41 penalty minutes for the Kingston Frontenacs last season, believes it is best to stay in Toronto during the summer to gain the greatest training camp edge.
Nielsen did just that, training with Zach Hyman and Connor Brown, and taking daily guidance from the Leafs coaching staff and sports sciences department.
“I worked on my overall speed and quickness,” said Nielsen, a native of Red Deer, Alta. “The one thing I noticed was that sometimes, in the corners, I got caught slow-footed. You watch guys like Connor Carrick, they don’t get caught like that often, if at all.”
Rasanen travelled back and forth to North American from his home in Finland, taking in the draft and the NHL combines. He also skated locally with the regular summer group at the Leafs MasterCard Centre.
“I want to play hard and be hard to play against,” Rasanen said. “You have to be tough and I think I am that kind of player. I hit hard when the hit is there. What I have to work on, for sure, is skating and speed, and conditioning. That’s always the important things.”