With the surprise announcement of a significant injury for James van Riemsdyk, 22-year-old forward Josh Leivo has been recalled from the Toronto Marlies.
The Leafs‘ run of injury luck in the first half of the season has come to a screeching halt, as they will be without their leading points scorer for the next six-to-eight weeks due to a foot fracture caused by a puck to the foot in Saturday’s loss in San Jose.
van Riemsdyk had played in 250 of 252 games in his first three-plus seasons with the Leafs. Missed only 2 games to injury (back spasms).
— Jonas Siegel (@jonassiegel) January 11, 2016
As awful as it is for JvR — playing his best 200-foot hockey in a Leaf sweater — the timing is great for Josh Leivo, who enters with the confidence of a five-game point streak. He was a dominant force this past weekend against Manitoba, scoring two goals and taking his tally to eleven on the season.
Leivo, a former 2011 third round pick, put himself on the radar of the big club with a 23-goal, 42-point rookie AHL season (59GP), and earned two short stays with the big club in late 2013-14 and early 2014-15 (two goals and three points in 16 NHL games total).
However, Leivo was an early cut in Mike Babcock’s first training camp in September 2015 — this after a down season in 2014-15 that was curtailed by injury.
There were signs Leivo was turning it around in the 2015 Calder Cup playoffs, albeit in a disappointingly short run for the Marlies, as he posted six points in five games.
Leivo’s responded excellently to his early cut in the first half of 2015-16 in the AHL, up to 30 points in 35 games after the weekend. He’s two points shy of last season’s point total in 16 fewer games, and has already matched his 2014-15 goals output (11). He was recently named to the AHL North Division All-Star team.
It hasn’t all been plain sailing in 2015-16, however. Despite a three-point game on opening night, Leivo was a healthy scratch, with Sheldon Keefe not shy in saying that we was sending the young man a message after a pair of performances the head coach was not at all pleased about.
With a tonne of offensive talent on the Marlies, Leivo has had to earn the right to be a prominent top six forward and receive powerplay time.
Offensively, his skills have shone through, but almost more importantly he’s shown he’s a responsible two-way player who will consistently backcheck. He’s also more mature, with less of the hot-headedness we’ve seen previously (just four penalty minutes taken in his last 26 games).
With a lot of the hype and attention going to the likes of Nylander and Kapanen, Leivo’s gone about his business in workmanlike fashion since the benching. As the season has progressed, he’s continued to improve and was lighting the way for a Marlies team dealing with some significant absences.
Currently riding a five-game point streak, Leivo has been a force at even strength as well as the powerplay. His 21 points at ES is tied with Nylander and Brennan, with 19 of those points either goals or primary assists. Leivo’s 13 primary assists at even strength is team-leading by a long way.
It’s the same story on the power play, with eight of his nine points being goals or primary assists.
It’s doubtless that some of his success is due in part to playing alongside Nylander, but don’t be deceived by that — Leivo has continued to put up numbers in the Swedish forward’s absence, all while playing with less talented and skilled players than the aforementioned Nylander.
The turning point for Leivo may have well come in that crazy 9-8 victory in St. John’s in mid November. Leivo potted two goals that brought Toronto within one of the IceCaps, before assisting on the overtime game winner. It was a four-point night for Leivo that had to go a ways in building some confidence and self belief.
Since his last spell in the NHL, Leivo has been left wing more regularly in the AHL and should be able to acquit himself much better in that position this time around. There should be ample opportunity with the Leafs‘ leading scorer torn out of the lineup for up to the next two months.
Based on look at practice would appear that Shawn Matthias will move into void left by van Riemsdyk alongside Bozak and Parenteau.
— Jonas Siegel (@jonassiegel) January 11, 2016
