After practice on Wednesday, head coach Sheldon Keefe discussed the team’s play as the schedule nears the holiday break, new Leaf Dryden Hunt joining the team in practice, and the status of Rasmus Sandin after leaving Tuesday’s game with a neck injury.
Practice Lines – December 21
#Leafs lines during practice Dec. 21/22
Bunting-Matthews-Nylander
Jarnkrok-Tavares-Marner
Kerfoot-Kampf-Engvall
Hunt-Holmberg-Anderson
Extras: Aston-Reese, SimmondsGiordano-Holl
Benn-Liljegren
Brodie-Timmins
Absent: Sandin (neck)@BodogCA @RinkWideTOR— David Alter (@dalter) December 21, 2022
Is there an update on Rasmus Sandin?
Keefe: No update other than that he is not going to play tomorrow. We will use the break to get a better sense of exactly where he is at. He just needs more time to be evaluated.
What gives Jordie Benn the ability to stick around, wait for an opportunity, and be ready when it comes?
Keefe: He is a veteran player who knows exactly who he is and what he needs to do. He has worked real hard through his injury to get himself back. He did a really good job for us of stepping in at a time when we really needed him with our injuries. He did a really good job there.
He has a great personality about him. He goes about his business every day. He is a popular guy in the room. He is really comfortable with who he is and what he has done in the league. He is always ready and available when called upon.
Of course, he has had some battles with injuries, but he has gotten through that. Every day, you bump into him and chat with him, you see him interacting with his teammates, and you feel good about what he brings to the team.
What stands out to you about Dryden Hunt in the one practice he’s had with the team?
Keefe: He’s got good energy and lots of personality to him. I had a couple of conversations with him, and I think he is excited to be here. I think he has a general excitement about him with his demeanour, which is always good, especially when you come in as a depth player. Having a good energy and vibe to you endears you to your teammates.
It is all part of having a shorter adjustment period. For him, we have the break right around the corner here. Today was a chance for him to get acclimated. He is not going to play tomorrow, but we will have him involved in our warm-up, our meetings, and such so that when he comes back from the break, he is a little bit further ahead.
What is the value of exposing the fourth line to some different situations last night? What did you see from them?
Keefe: We were playing against a really good team, and there were some very good players on the other side.
First of all, Holmberg has earned the opportunity to take a step in the level of competition and the situations I am putting him in. You are also trying to almost test them and see what they can do there. Some of it went well. Others, not so well — and there are some things that they can clean up — but that is all part of that.
Joey Anderson is similar to Holmberg. He is trying to find himself at the NHL level. Part of it is playing well enough consistently enough to stay in the lineup. The other part of it is how much your minutes and role can grow.
We need to expose our guys to it a little bit. We have seen what has happened on the backend as some of our guys have been forced into increased roles and responsibilities. I am trying to fight that balance of trying to win every single shift and put everybody in the best possible situation while also trying to ensure our team can grow inside of what is happening day to day.
Now that we are about to enter the Christmas break, what is your level of satisfaction with how the team is playing and the record you’ve compiled?
Keefe: We feel really good about what we have done as a team, but it is a long season and there are always little details to clean up.
Last night, I thought we played a really good hockey game, but there are details inside of it over the course of 60 minutes where things happen more than once and you want to clean it up. We made some mistakes in the game, whether it is breakout pieces or mistakes off of faceoffs.
Those are the kinds of details within your game where even when you are feeling really good about them, over the course of 82 games, some things slip through the cracks. That is just the reality in a game as dynamic as ours. Our sport is one where a lot of things happen really quickly. It feels like you are plugging holes in one spot and cleaning things up, and all of a sudden, something leaks on the other side.
You are just staying true to your process of daily meetings, video, discussion with the team and individual players, and maximizing the time you have in practice. You are just kind of riding the wave that comes with an NHL schedule.
With the record, the goaltending, and the defensive play, it doesn’t like there are major worries to address.
Keefe: Yeah, that’s fair to say. We certainly don’t have anything that is of huge concern right now. We feel good about our game. We’re just continuing to refine it. Special teams are an area that we can continue to focus on. That’s why it felt so good to get an important goal on the power play for us yesterday against a penalty kill that had really been thriving. Huge goal for us there.
Those are the little things where you are trying to be as good as you can in every single area, whether it is statistics and the underlying numbers that are there or the game we are seeing on the video. We are trying to refine it and be as close to perfect as we can.
Is it a challenge to remain sharp in the final game before the break with an afternoon matchup against a team that isn’t having the best year?
Keefe: It is always a funny game, the last one before the break. It is just the reality of it. It is one of those things where you can’t help that you have plans after the game. You have family in, or you are trying to get out. You have all sorts of stuff that is happening.
Our message today was really just about focusing on the fact that you have 60 minutes remaining to play. As good as things have gone for us of late — the two-game losing streak on the road notwithstanding — we feel good about our game and want to go into the break with that same feeling.
Will Ilya Samsonov start the game tomorrow?
Keefe: Yes.
