Marleau, Matthews paired on power play
Babcock says veteran centre will occupy the middle on PP
A match made in fantasy hockey heaven was made Thursday when Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock paired centres Patrick Marleau with Auston Matthews in practice.
It was a plan Babcock had in mind all summer, but it’s for the power play only.
“He (Marleau) is going to be that guy in the middle,” Matthews said. “He’s an important guy on the power play. He has experience, he knows how to score. He’s been around for a while. He can find ways to get open, and make smart simple plays.”
Babcock again suggested Marleau would hit the 20-goal plateau; the former San Jose Shark had 27 last season.
“He’s a guy we have to find a spot and a fit for, and make him important because he is important,” Babcock said of Marleau, a veteran of 19 NHL season. “He’s another guy that gets 20.”
Just don’t look for Marleau to supplant Zach Hyman on Matthews’ wing in 5-on-5 situations.
“Hyman is a guy that gets the puck back,” Babcock said. “I’ve learned from good players; they like to have the puck. (It doesn’t work) when you have three guys that want the puck. (Hyman) gets the puck back better than anyone.” UNEVEN START: Mitch Marner had an uneven first pre-season game Tuesday night, a loss to Ottawa and part of the reason he said, was all the whistles for penalties.
“It was hard to get that groove going at even strength,” Marner said. “You want to get out there, get better, get faster, and get the game-pace back.”
Babcock wasn’t impressed with Marner’s play either.
“He was all right in the first, then was fooling around,” the coach said of Marner. “He’s bigger, stronger, faster, more confident. A real good player. To this point, we haven’t seen that at game time. We obviously will.”
BROWN’S DOWN: Babcock expressed optimism that Connor Brown won’t be stuck on the fourth line.
“He doesn’t think he’s the 10th forward, I don’t think he is either,” Babcock said. “We’ll figure it out. Brown is a good player, he’s going to play, whether it’s on the power play or penalty kill or regular shift. He will find a way to play. This will all work itself out.”
GET WORKING: Getting a little irked with the nature of speculative questions that second-guessed his line combination, Babcock suggested journalists should instead focus on the fact his team has lost its first two exhibition games.
“This is what you ought to write: They haven’t worked hard enough,” the coach said.