After practice on Wednesday, Sheldon Keefe spoke about Mitch Marner’s leadership, injury updates on Travis Dermott and Petr Mrazek, the challenge coming up against the Tampa Bay Lightning, and the organization’s internal conversations about the Kyle Beach situation.
Is there a status update on Travis Dermott?
Keefe: His status is day to day. He wasn’t very comfortable when he tried to put his skate on today. He was unable to skate. We will have to see how he is tomorrow.
How about Petr Mrazek? He came back, played a game, and then took the main session off at practice. How is his health?
Keefe: He is feeling good. Obviously, he backed up yesterday, but he is not where I would say he is 100%. We are just continuing to manage it. He is not going to play tomorrow, and that wasn’t the plan for him to play tomorrow. It has allowed us to lighten his load a little bit before he starts ramping up again.
Is he still backing up tomorrow?
Keefe: Yes.
How would you describe the effect on the room when Mitch Marner is feeling good and playing like he is right now?
Keefe: There is definitely something to it. The energy and the spirit of your team are extremely important throughout a season. That gives the group energy at times when maybe it is lacking.
The schedule is tough in the NHL. A guy like him plays with spirit and energy, but he also has it around the room. He has a bounce in his step all the time. When one of your leaders has that, I think it is important. Of course, you need to back it up on the ice, and he has certainly done that here now. It makes a big difference in our group, no doubt.
What did you see from the top power-play unit yesterday as it finally broke through?
Keefe: I just liked the way that they worked off of the puck. They shot the puck and created some loose-puck scenarios where they had to compete and find ways to get it back. You fall out of structure sometimes doing that, and that in and of itself can sometimes create opportunities while the other team is a little disoriented.
That is really how we scored yesterday. They didn’t get back into their structure quickly enough, we were able to make a play, and find a seam. When their penalty killer made a mistake, it opened up the seam to Auston. We capitalized on it.
The biggest thing was just the way they worked and competed on it. The power play and the five-on-five go hand-in-hand in terms of how guys are feeling. Sometimes the power play can fuel the five-on-five play. Sometimes the five-on-five play can fuel the power play. Those guys had lots of jump all the way through. It was nice to see them come through on the power play.
The last time you played Tampa Bay, it was the final game before the pandemic shut the league down. They have won two Cups since. Can you speak to the challenge you’ll be facing with them?
Keefe: Any time you are playing Tampa now, even before they won the Cup, you knew you were in for a game. Now, with the type of experience and credibility that they have, you have to be prepared all the way through.
The team looks a little bit different now, but not entirely different. You look at their goaltending, their defense, the high-end forwards, or the depth forwards they seem to add to the team outside or bring up from the minors… Guys just find ways to step up and fill roles and give them good energy.
We certainly know the challenge that we are up for. We think it is a terrific opportunity for our team to continue to take a step here. We did a lot of good things yesterday. Tomorrow, as we know, is a different challenge for us. We have two divisional games coming up here against two good opponents. We are going to focus on Tampa, but it is a real good opportunity. I am excited for the guys to get an opportunity to go out and compete tomorrow.
Internally, there has been a lot of conversation about the Kyle Beach situation. As head coach, what is your role? Do you let them have those conversations, or do you lead some of them?
Keefe: My approach is to let the players have those conversations. As a coaching staff, we have had our own. Here in our organization, we are fortunate right from the top with Brendan Shanahan, Kyle Dubas, and the whole MLSE family. They have put in lots of different mechanisms to provide support and opportunities for people to speak [up], be it confidential or otherwise. We feel confident in our organization that there are steps in place.
But this whole situation with Kyle and his story and his bravery that he has shown to speak up has really made sure that every organization is looking internally to make sure they have the appropriate steps in place to be able to deal with situations. I think there are a lot of really positive things that have happened here that I feel good about and proud to be a part of with this organization. That said, you are always making sure you are doing the right things so that the situation doesn’t happen again, and if there is ever anyone that feels they are a victim in any way, they are, A) comfortable to speak up, and, B) They are supported and there is action taken.
Those are really the conversations that have happened within the organization. I do believe we have some good mechanisms in place as a company to help prevent these kinds of things from happening again, which is really what this is about.
