TORONTO – Jake McCabe has the green light, finally. Thankfully.
Despite coach Craig Berube — and the hardnosed defenceman himself — originally expecting McCabe to bounce right back from a frightening puck to the head on Nov. 30, McCabe’s “day to day” status lingered for 12 days.
Without him, the Toronto Maple Leafs have hardly played their best hockey, going 3-2 on the backs of “the best goaltending in the league” during McCabe’s five-game absence.
While the sense here is that McCabe may have been available sooner had the calendar read “May” instead of “December,” no one will argue against exercising caution when it comes to head injuries.
“Anytime you take a puck to the head,” McCabe said Thursday morning, “you want to be extra careful.”
“Feeling a lot better now than I was last week. Didn’t quite feel right. Didn’t quite feel comfortable putting myself in a situation to play. And the medical staff takes great care of us. Got the go-ahead now, so ready to get back at it.”
Facing the floundering Anaheim Ducks, McCabe will relink with Chris Tanev on one of the NHL’s premier shutdown pairings, pushing seventh man Philippe Myers back to the press box after some decent work in relief.
McCabe and Tanev, a duo Berube stumbled upon, have been phenomenal together.
With plus-11 and plus-9 ratings, respectively, they lead the Maple Leafs in plus/minus, a feat more impressive when you consider that McCabe starts just 37 per cent of his shifts in the offensive zone. Tanev starts fewer than 30 per cent.
They’re also integral to Toronto’s vastly improved penalty kill, which now ranks fifth overall (83 per cent).
“He’s the most willing player in the league to eat shots from everywhere,” McCabe raves of Tanev. “We talk well. And I think we’ve been pretty good with the puck as well. When you’re good with the puck, you have to defend less. That’s always how I look at it. So, it’s been going good so far.”
John Tavares notes McCabe’s ability to snuff out the opposition’s cycle and break the puck out cleanly — missing ingredients in Tuesday’s stolen 2-1 overtime win in New Jersey.
“But it’s the type of commitment he makes physically every night. I think the emotional investment he has is massive on the ice and in the locker room,” Tavares said.
“Heart-and-soul type of player for us.”
Nylander waived goodbye
They can’t all be Owen Wilson, Kieran Culkin, or Casey Affleck.
Sometimes the older brother is simply more talented.
In his five-game stint with the Maple Leafs since upgrading his AHL contract to an NHL one, Alex Nylander took two minor penalties, failed to get on the scoresheet, and was a dash-1.
Absolutely, Alex’s reunion with big bro William was a fun story for a couple days.
But with the Leafs getting healthier and Berube damning Alex with faint praise (“Just OK”), the younger Nylander’s trip to the waiver wire hardly came as a surprise.
Depth defenceman Dakota Mermis was also placed on waivers, and the hope is that both players will clear and remain available for recall in case of emergency.
Stolarz earns another shot
While the Maple Leafs goaltenders had settled into a rotation, Anthony Stolarz’s show in New Jersey earned him consecutive starts.
He gets the tap against the Ducks, one of three former teams that could use his .928 save percentage.
“Stolie had one hell of a game. We all know that,” Berube said. “So that was the call tonight to go back with him.”
Were it not for Stolarz’s heroics Tuesday, the Maple Leafs would be on a three-game losing skid, and they know it.
“We’re looking for almost a bounce-back effort tonight, even though we did get the win,” McCabe said.
Tavares compares the early success of Stolarz and Joseph Woll to that of Linus IUllmark and Jeremy Swayman in recent Bruins seasons — two guys sharing the load through friendly competition.
Toronto’s team save percentage (.911) ranks tops in the East and third leaguewide.
“I remember when (Mikka) Kiprusoff played 60-plus games, almost 70 games. (Henrik) Lundqvist and whatnot,” Tavares said.
“Now you just see how important it is to have two guys, even three guys — having depth in the position. So, it’s great how they’re feeding off one another. And what they’re providing for us goes a long way in our success.”
One-Timers: Nick Robertson projects to be a healthy scratch for a third straight game…. Bobby McMann (lower body) is “very close” to a return. Depending how he responds to Friday’s practice, he could be an option Saturday in Detroit… David Kämpf (lower body) skated with the team Thursday for the first time since hitting IR, but the centreman is still “a little ways away yet,” per Berube…. Stolarz will face a stiff challenge at the other end of the rink. Anaheim’s Lukas Dostal (.921 save percentage) is one of the best stories of the Ducks’ troublesome campaign.
Maple Leafs projected lineup Thursday vs. Anaheim Ducks:
Knies – Matthews – Marner
Pacioretty – Tavares – Nylander
Holmberg – Minten – Domi
Lorentz – Dewar – Reaves
Rielly – Ekman-Larsson
McCabe – Tanev
Benoit – Timmins
Stolarz starts
Woll
