Game Day: Mike Babcock
What can you see this group doing here tonight to build off of what we saw in Quebec City on Wednesday night?
Babcock: I thought the group played real hard, obviously. Forechecked hard, worked hard, cycled the puck hard. It’s your last opportunity to show and we’re in evaluation mode. We’ve got some decisions to make. I’m excited for this group. This group has played hard.
What’s the thing that will make Josh Leivo a full-time NHLer?
Babcock: I think he’s a full-time NHLer. Didn’t he play in the NHL last year?
A nightly guy.
Babcock: He’s got to take someone else’s job. It’s just simple. 23 guys make the team. 20 guys get to make the team. You’ve got to find a way to take someone’s job. In his situation, he’s got to be ahead of somebody in a role and opportunity. Leivs has played fine. I guess we could go around the room and ask the guys which guy wants to give him their job. I bet you there aren’t many.
Aaltonen was saying this morning he feels ready to play in the NHL. Do you concur?
Babcock: I think he’s right there. So now we’ve got to make a decision. I think Aalts has learned a ton during camp and made good progress. Now, we’ll just decide in the next few days what we’re going to do.
On the defensive side, have you seen some progress there during camp?
Babcock: Yeah. Obviously, you come in as an offensive player and then in our group he’s not going to be offensive. That doesn’t mean he can’t make plays or score goals, but he’s got to find a way to do other things to get on the ice, and that’s usually being safe, good in the faceoff circle, and a really good penalty killer. Those are the things he’s been working at.
Do you anticipate more cuts tomorrow?
Babcock: What we’ll do is we’ll finish the game here tonight and we’ll probably talk and get a night’s sleep on it. Because we’ve got more time, we’ll take more time, and by then, we’ll know what we are doing.
It’s crunch time, though.
Babcock: Obviously, we’ve got to decide. The beauty of the NHL, though, is you’ve got a minor league team and you can send guys down. You can bring guys up. You can do lots of things here. It’s not the end of the world if you don’t get it right the first day. Just because you get it right the first day, doesn’t mean it’s right ten games in. We’ll figure it out.
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines
Forwards
Leivo – Aaltonen – Kapanen
Greening – Smith – Grundstrom
Johnsson – Fehr – Soshnikov
T. Moore – Mueller – Rychel
Defencemen
Nielsen – Carrick
Dermott – Polak
LoVerde – Liljegren
Valiev – Holl
Goalies
McElhinney
Sparks
Detroit Red Wings Projected Lines
Forwards
Abdelkader – Rasmussen – Parenteau
Sadowy – Glendening – Witkowski
Lorito – Holmstrom – Shine
Ford – Turgeon – Campbell
Defencemen
Lashoff – Saarijarvi
Renouf – Hicketts
Ouellet – McGrath
Goalies
Mrazek
Coreau
