A quick mix of the things we gleaned from the week of hockey, serious and less so, and rolling four lines deep. On Hall of Fame weekend, we are all Team Sweden.
1. Not only will Matt Murray not play Saturday versus the Vancouver Canucks, it turns out that was never the plan.
Despite leading reporters to believe that Murray might be tracking ahead of schedule on a return from October’s adductor injury and that GM Kyle Dubas’s highest-profile off-season acquisition could be ready to make his long-awaited second start, coach Sheldon Keefe revealed Friday night that the decision to wait on Murray was made days ago.
The theatre is curious, but the decision is smart.
If the Petr Mrazek Experience taught Toronto anything, it’s that Murray is not to be rushed.
The schedule hasn’t hit mid-November, and one would like to believe the Maple Leafs could handle the imploding Canucks at home, even with tired AHL goaltender between the pipes.
Erik Källgren, the club’s valiant third-stringer, fell on the sword after Friday’s 4-2 blown-lead loss to the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins.
“It’s not good enough by me. It’s just not good enough,” Källgren said, after allowing Brock McGinn’s game-winner to squeak through his wickets.
“I feel bad for the team. I got to be making that save, and we have a good chance at winning the game.”
The normally even-keel Swede appeared as grim as we’ve seen him over his 21-game NHL run — every appearance a result of the two men ahead of him on the depth chart being unfit to play.
No, his big-league numbers aren’t spectacular (3.21 GAA, .888 save percentage), but Källgren should hold his chin up when he faces Vancouver backup Spencer Martin Saturday.
He’s an AHL-level goaltender, and the fact he’ll make his eighth appearance by Game 16 is an indictment on the organization’s difficulty developing and/or signing on healthy, stable athletes at the position.
Some of it is crummy luck. Not all of it.
More troubling for Källgren is the concerning lack of run support he’s received.
Here’s the number of goals the Maple Leafs have scored this season in games Källgren appeared: 2, 3, 3, 2, 3, 3, 2.
That places an abnormal amount of stress on a $750,000 goaltender.
Particularly when the Maple Leafs, by every measure — identity, reputation, salary structure — are built to score in bunches and make up for the occasional soft goal.
2. Jack Eichel is back, baby.
As Keefe put it this week, having a bona fide No. 1 centre “brings it all together” for the NHL-leading Vegas Golden Knights.
“He’s a load to play against on both sides of the puck because of the size and speed he has. And he’s a game-breaker,” Keefe praised.
Indeed.
Eichel is tearing up the charts, piling up traditional stats (a team-leading 19 points and plus-13) and wowing the fancy-stats crowd with his underlying possession metrics.
Most important to his coach, however, is Eichel’s commitment without the puck on his blade.
“I think he’s been one of our best defensive players,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “He’s been tremendous.”
Some intangibles are at work here. Eichel is fully healthy. He acclimatized to the group well in advance of training camp, participating in pre-camp captain’s skates and hanging out with the Golden Knights on off-days.
Mentally, he’s in a better place, and Vegas’s winning culture has done wonders. He’s no longer carrying the burden of trying to captain a franchise out of the muck.
“He’s having fun playing the game again. He still wants to be a guy that’s relied on, but he also knows he’s not the first over the boards in every situation. We’ve got a lot of good players,” Cassidy noted.
With good habits that are rubbing off.
“He’s not cheating for anything,” Mark Stone said. “He’s been as advertised. Just a beast down the middle of the ice, which we haven’t had.”
Eichel’s initial return to Buffalo felt spiteful and petty and emotional. The second go-round — complete with a natural hat trick — was downright electric.
The former Sabre struck a much different tone on this week’s trip back east.
“I wish those guys all the best,” said Eichel, claiming no ill will. “I care about those guys, and I want them to have success.
“I’m really happy with my situation, and I’m glad they’re doing well.”
3. Here’s hoping Ryan Reynolds finds his sugar mommy or sugar daddy.
The Ottawa Senators could use a high-profile ownership boost, and it would do wonders for a league that loves its mainstream crossover moments.
Even better, former Senator Mark Stone told me this week, would be seeing the LeBreton Flats plan come to fruition.
“It’s a great city. It’s a hockey city. There’s a bigger population of fans there that people don’t see. Having a centralized rink would be unbelievable for that city. When I was there, it would’ve been unbelievable to play downtown,” Stone said.
“We had a great facility out in Kanata, but it doesn’t cater to the whole population. There are so many fans in that city, but logistically it is difficult to go to a hockey game.
“It would be exciting to get that rink downtown. Get that city buzzing again. It would be incredible for the entire league to understand how great that city really is.”
Stone said the dream of a downtown rink was something he and his fellow teammates used to discuss. He thinks fondly back to the 2017 outdoor game at Landsdowne Park and how electric the feeling was in the nation’s capital — despite the bitter cold.
Another ex-Sen, Erik Karlsson, was the star that evening.
Stone and Karlsson still stay in touch, and they trained together this summer in the Ottawa area.
Even though they’re now Pacific Division rivals, Stone is relishing in the Karlsson renaissance.
“It’s exciting for him. He’s been written off. He’s had a couple hard years, right? With injuries. He’s fully healthy. He had a full summer of training. I saw him for a month this year. He looked great,” Stone said.
“He’s skating good. He’s never not going to make plays — he’s not losing that. But he looks like he’s got that step back. I’m happy for him. It’s been a hard couple years for him, and I know he puts a lot of pressure on himself. So, it’s good to see him back playing well.”
4. Fifteen games in, and 17(!) Golden Knights have scored a goal. Seven have potted at least four. Nine are already in double digits for points.
That’s depth.
And that’s why I’m becoming a believer that Vegas could make the great leap from missing out on the postseason one spring to going the distance the next.
“I mean, we’ve been a pretty good team for a while. We want to be winning the Stanley Cup, not just competing for it,” said Stone.
The captain considers the ridiculous rash of injuries his team dealt with in 2021-22 and knocks on his wooden dressing-room stall.
“It couldn’t go any worse than last year,” Stone went on. “If you’re missing $30 million or $40 million out of your lineup, it’s tough to win in this league.”
Vegas’s forward lines have gone from disarray to downright frightening.
The first line that pushed the Knights to the 2018 final — William Karlsson, Reilly Smith and Jonathan Marchessault — is now Line 2, with Stone, Eichel and Chandler Stephenson first over the boards.
Stone said the group has added layers to its offensive game and is more comfortable winning any type of game that comes its way.
In addition to health, Marchessault points to Cassidy’s new system, which is designed for counterattacks and guards against odd-man rushes.
That style demands more discipline from the skaters but takes stress off the Knights’ relatively green goaltenders.
Watching the Golden Knights operate, one can’t help but marvel at their blend of speed and structure. A crispness flows from south to north and line to line.
“Their defence is as big and as deep as any team in the league,” said Keefe.
And experienced.
Top pair Alec Martinez and Alex Pietrangelo have three Cups between them. They set the standard.
“It doesn’t seem like the guys in here get very flustered,” Eichel said.
The Golden Knights lead the NHL with four third-period comeback wins.
The other day, someone reminded Cassidy of a proclamation team owner Bill Foley had made when he was granted an expansion franchise. The Knights, fast-tracker Foley stated, would made the playoffs in Year 1 and hoist the Stanley Cup by Year 6.
“It’s Year 6,” Cassidy smiled. “So, we gotta get going.”
5. Nice timing by the Golden Knights, who passed Laurent Brossoit through waivers Friday and avoided a three-headed crease.
Starter Logan Thompson (8-2) has been phenomenal. One of this fall’s best feel-good tales, he’s also the only NHL-level Vegas goalie exempt from waivers — but demoting him would’ve been foolish.
Backup Adin Hill was sought after by director of goaltending Sean Burke because his style fits the way Vegas wants to defend so well.
The most experienced of the bunch, 29-year-old Brossoit, has wrapped his conditioning stint with AHL Henderson and is ready to go.
Brossoit slipped through waivers just 24 hours after Seattle claimed goalie Magnus Hellberg from Ottawa.
If you need a backup goalie, call Kelly McCrimmon.
6. Anyone else bumping Drake and 21 Savage’s new album, Her Loss?
Mildly surprised to catch the Toronto ambassador spilling a reference to his city’s longest-standing hockey enemies on the track “More M’s.”
“Used to be in ’Sauga out at Sega City Playdium / Skatin’ through this album like a Montreal Canadien,” Drake spits.
Smartly, Montreal’s social media folks jumped all over it, while the split fan reaction got picked up by several blogs.
The rival reference hasn’t stopped Drake from getting regular rotation during Maple Leafs’ warmups, though.
7. A Toronto reporter couched a question to Coach Keefe about frequent scratch Nick Robertson’s usage by referencing the winger’s youth.
“I don’t think it’s an age thing. It’s a performance thing,” Keefe clarified.
We love the bluntness. Still: Ouch.
Robertson took his season debut by storm. Since then, he’s arrived at the rink unsure if he’ll see his surname scribbled on the whiteboard.
Battling big pros, the 21-year-old is discovering how much his shoulders can ache between outings. He knows he must perform consistently, with and without the puck, and is the type of über-driven athlete who exerts plenty of internal pressure.
Robertson said he’s trying not to read too much into the scratches because, hey, it’s happened to him before. Happened to his star brother Jason in Dallas, too, before his role became undeniable.
“It is what it is. I try to be positive, whether it’s in my favour or not. Anything can change in this industry, I’ve learned,” Robertson said.
The internal pressure is getting matched by the external, as fellow fringe winger Denis Malgin has gained more trust of late from Keefe. And with Robertson waivers-exempt and goaltender Matt Murray coming off LTIR, there might not be room for both.
“I’m looking for a guy to step up and really grab a hold of it,” said Keefe, publicly challenging the kid.
“Then your spot is there, and off you go.”
8. On the night he singlehandedly doubled the goal output by the rest of the Maple Leafs D corps, Timothy Liljegren said, “I don’t see myself as a goal scorer.”
And yet the 23-year-old devoted a significant portion of his down time rehabbing from hernia surgery working on his shot.
His coach and teammates were encouraged by the confidence and swiftness with which the young skater released the puck this week. What’s key is that Liljegren didn’t think pass first or defer to the bigger names he shares the ice with.
“He’s been playing some great hockey,” Mitch Marner said, beaming.
“He worked hard to get healthy, to start playing as quick as he could. He’s got great skill. Good puck skills. Good skater,” added partner Morgan Rielly. “As he gets rolling here, I only expect him to get better.”
Liljegren — one of just two right shots on the organization’s blue line — has done wonders to settle some of the fluctuation and inconsistency amongst the Leafs’ defensive pairs and performance.
Yes, he had a tough giveaway in Tuesday’s OT loss to Vegas, but the promise here is encouraging.
It’s no coincidence that the Leafs’ best defensive performances this season have coincided with Liljegren’s return.
Here’s a thoughtful Keefe, who has been working with Liljegren since he arrived in Canada:
“Through his whole life, (he) had been a really dynamic offensive defenceman. And then as he became a pro, starting at the AHL level, the offence wasn’t as easy to come by. That’s taken some time. So, he had to really get to work and improve his defensive play and really embrace the defensive part of the game.
“The reality is, that’s a foundation that gives a lot of defencemen an opportunity to play in the league, and then you can build and grow your game from there. There’s very few guys that start the opposite way, that are so dynamic offensively that you can just kinda deal with or work on the defensive piece on the fly. In most cases, it works the opposite.
“And you have to have a real good, sound defensive foundation. To me, through his time with the Marlies, and then coming up (to the Leafs) last season, he’s really accepted that you can play in the league for a really long time being a very tough defender. Use your skating and your skill to close plays early in the neutral zone and defend the rush. Be a good penalty killer. And then your skillset and all those things can grow inside of your game while you’re playing in the league through confidence and repetition and experience.
“He’s really followed that path well. And credit to him. I think he’s worked extremely hard. I think he’s got a really good sense of what he needs to do to be successful and to help our team.”
9. Dumfounded to see the St. Louis Blues dead last in the West, with a frightening .333 points percentage and a minus-18 goal differential. A league-worst, franchise-record eight-game losing skid will do that.
Things don’t get much easier over the next few days, with a road trip that begins in Las Vegas, then heads to Colorado.
We haven’t seen captain Ryan O’Reilly this out of sorts since he was mired on those disastrous Buffalo squads:
“I’m supposed to lead this team, and I’m not doing nearly enough. I know other guys, too. There’s a lot more that needs to be done. I don’t have an answer for you right now. I just know what I’m doing isn’t working,” O’Reilly said after Tuesday’s embarrassing 5-1 loss to the Flyers.
“It’s on me. It’s on some others.
“It’s just finding an answer. I don’t have it — and I’m pissed off I don’t have it.”
The man cares.
Still, one of the premier two-way pivots is getting caved in. O’Reilly has just two points (both goals) and an eye-popping minus-12.
Both he and top winger Vladimir Tarasenko are on expiring contracts. So is 60-point man Ivan Barbashev.
If St. Louis can’t summon a 2019-style turnaround, Doug Armstrong could become the trade deadline’s kingmaker.
10. Quote of the Week.
And it goes to Brad Marchand for the second time already this season.
Marchand’s assessment of how fine his teammates look in Boston’s Reverse Retro “pooh bear” gear is priceless:
11. Thoroughly enjoyed Wayne Gretzky’s appearance this week on SmartLess, Mitch Marner’s favourite podcast.
Do yourself a favour:
Actor Steve Carrell appeared on the same show a couple episodes back, and it made me happy to learn that The Office star still plays shinny regularly at age 60.
Look for him next time you’re in a Massachusetts rink.
Carrell used to be a goalie. Now he plays out because it’s easier on the body.
Same thing with Billy Smith.
12. Exhibit 427 in the case to abolish the offside challenge once and for all:
