After practice on Friday, head coach Sheldon Keefe discussed the return of Timothy Liljegren to the lineup, Justin Holl hearing boos from the home crowd in Wednesday’s game, Wayne Simmonds entering the lineup for Saturday’s game against Boston, and much more.
Practice Lines – November 4
Leafs practice lines
Bunting – Matthews – Marner
Kerfoot – Tavares – Nylander
Aston-Reese – Kampf – Malgin
Jarnkrok – Engvall – Simmonds
Robertson, Holmberg @TSN_Edge— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) November 4, 2022
How do you size up these next three games against three of the top teams in the league?
Keefe: I don’t size up three games. I size up one game against the Boston Bruins. That is the first thing. We have to focus on that. Obviously, it is a team that is rolling right now. They have been a great team in the league for many, many years. They are off to a great start. They have an abundance of confidence.
It is a great challenge and yet a terrific opportunity for us as well. We are coming off of a good win here. We are feeling much better about our game coming out of that one. We know we are going to be challenged to another level. We are looking to get to another level as a team. We think it is a great opportunity. We will be ready for it.
The best teams seem to have brought out the best in your group over your time here. How much confidence does that give you going into this?
Keefe: I think that is one of the things that has given me confidence all the way through the start of this season and certainly through last season any time we had hiccups along the way. When push came to shove in the regular season, we responded very well as a team.
I am expecting a great effort from our team. I expect Boston is going to give us a lot to handle with how they are performing right now, but we believe in our team. I am excited about an opportunity for us to go against what has been the top team in the NHL so far here.
What are you hoping to see from Timothy Liljegren tomorrow night next to Morgan Rielly?
Keefe: I am just hoping for Lily to go out there and be himself. He was in a really nice groove for us through the tail end of the regular season last year. He really became an important member of our team both at five-on-five and on the penalty kill. It has been tough not having him through camp and the early going of the season.
We just want him to go out, be himself, and adjust to the league again. He’s gotten some really good games in. Watching the games back, he did a really nice job in his time with the Marlies. He has come back into the NHL and it just so happens to be against a very tough opponent.
We want to make sure he gets himself comfortable and does his thing rather than coming out and feeling like he needs to do everything all in one shift. There is a lot of hockey ahead here. Just go out and do your thing.
Where did you see the most improvement in his camp last season?
Keefe: Lily, throughout his whole life, had been a really dynamic offensive defenseman. As he became a pro starting at the AHL level, the offense wasn’t as easy to come by. It has taken some time. Really, he had to get to work and improve his defensive play and really embrace the defensive part of his game.
The reality is that it’s the foundation that gives a lot of defensemen an opportunity to play in the league, and then you can build and grow your game from there. There are very few guys who start the opposite way where they are so dynamic offensively and you can just deal with or work on the game defensively on the fly. In most cases, it works the opposite way, and you have to have a really good, sound defensive foundation.
Through his time with the Marlies and coming up last season, he has really accepted that you can play in the league for a really long time by being a very tough defender, using your skating and your skill to close plays early in the neutral zone, and defending the rush. You can be a good penalty killer and then your skill set and all of those things can grow inside of your game while you are playing in the league through confidence, repetition, and experience.
I think he has really followed that path well. Credit to him. He has worked extremely hard. I think he has a really good sense of what he needs to do to be successful and to help our team.
Why is now the right time to get Wayne Simmonds back in? What are you looking for from that line tomorrow night?
Keefe: We have put him in the lineup here and there throughout. He gives us more experience and a different presence and energy in the lineup. I liked Holmberg’s energy the other night for his first game, but I think Wayne gives us a different dimension that can help us going into the game tomorrow.
In terms of that line, it is a bit of a mixed bag in the sense that it’s guys who haven’t necessarily played together. Pierre is playing in the middle, and he hasn’t worked through that this season, but I think he is a good and effective center when he has played there over time. I suspect our lines will be juggled throughout the game. We will mix things up a little bit.
Wayne is an important guy. He sort of changes the dynamic of our group a little bit when he comes in. When we have a chance to put him in and we think he can help provide something that is required for the opponent, we are going to make that switch. That is one of the things that the additional cap space has given us: the ability to do that.
Do you feel like Denis Malgin has been able to build some momentum for himself of late?
Keefe: I think he has done a really good job. The other night was something where we played him on that line with Kampf and Aston-Reese, which is a different look for him. He has been playing in more offensive type of roles. He is certainly an offensive type of player, and yet he has really displayed some good habits defensively in terms of his effort, his competitiveness physically, and staying on the puck.
Because of his skill set, he can make a play and really help keep that line on the offensive side of the red line. That is something we looked at the other night. I thought those guys were outstanding together. They scored a big goal. They didn’t spend much time in our end at all.
It is going to be a far greater challenge here coming up, but it is something we are going to continue to look at. As it has shaken out, Denis has done a good job with opportunities that have come his way. We want to continue to look at it that way.
We know we have Robertson continuing to work and stay ready. For now, we like this look that we have.
Is the plan in net to go with Ilya Samsonov on Saturday and Erik Källgren on Sunday?
Keefe: That is the plan, yes.
Is part of the process with Rasmus Sandin and Justin Holl to get them next to a couple of veteran guys like TJ Brodie and Mark Giordano to help settle their games down a little bit?
Keefe: Yeah, that is part of it for sure. We felt that we needed that. Given that we are so short with right-handed defensemen, there was a lot of reluctance to move Brodie out of that position, but ultimately, we felt it was necessary.
Because of the defensive reliability and the experience and intelligence that those guys play with in Brodie and Giordano, it can really help no matter who they are playing with. It gives Rielly an opportunity also to help another pairing.
That is part of why we made that switch. I made a comment at one point in the last road trip that changing the D pairings doesn’t have a lot to do with the defensemen themselves being responsible for their first touch, their pass, and their decision. That is on them, but we felt that a change like this can perhaps help some of the defensive aspects and thus reduce the number of decisions, puck-moving, and things that have to be made — and hopefully be on the offensive side of the red line more frequently.
For the last two games, that is what we have seen. It is going to be a greater challenge next time out, but the results thus far have been positive in that sense. It is worth continuing to look at. That is why Liljegren falls into the spot that he does naturally.
How do you assess Justin Holl’s ability to handle it when the fans get on him like in that one case in the second period the other night?
Keefe: Every player cares, and yet, I think Justin is pretty even-keeled and goes out and plays. Whether it is coaches being hard on him, teammates being hard on him, or him being hard on himself, I think he is able to kind of brush things off.
I think I recall the shift you are talking about, and in the moment, I didn’t take it necessarily as all on Justin. I thought it was just some general sloppy play from our team for about a 60-second span there where we made three or four errors. I thought other players off of the puck were maybe equally responsible.
I think he has enough intelligence and perspective to be able to get rid of that sort of thing. He has had a long road to get to the NHL. Because of that, any time you have a long road, you have a lot of doubters. You just have to stay confident and work. I don’t know how many healthy scratches he had here early in his time with the Leafs, but he found his way through that. He is a very resilient guy.
