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After practice on Tuesday, head coach Sheldon Keefe discussed the callup of AHL Player of the Week Bobby McMann, Auston Matthews’ absence from practice, TJ Brodie’s injury status, and the depth of his defense.

Practice Lines – January 10

Note: It is a maintenance day for Auston Matthews (morning-skate decision on availability for Wednesday vs. NSH); TJ Brodie has been placed on IR with a rib injury.

Is there an update on Auston Matthews’ status?

Keefe: It is just a maintenance day for him. We will see where he is at going into tomorrow, but nothing we are too concerned about at this point.

Is there some concern he might miss tomorrow’s game?

Keefe: We will see where he is at tomorrow.

What about TJ Brodie’s status?

Keefe: As I alluded to, he has been playing through something. He got a few extra tests done yesterday. It is something that is going to take a little bit of time to settle. Rather than him continuing to play through that, we are going to get him on the IR and give him some time to recover.

Do you have any idea about the length of recovery and the specifics of the injury?

Keefe: Nothing too long. It is a rib injury. It is not related to what he went through previously.

What allowed Bobby McMann to receive this opportunity with the call-up?

Keefe: He is a player that we really like. He is a guy we were really excited about coming into camp. We were really wanting to see him compete for a spot. I didn’t think he had as good of a camp as we were hoping for or that he was hoping for even.  It maybe showed the fact that while he is an older player, that was his first NHL camp with us.

He wasn’t in camp with us the year before. He had a great season with the Marlies. He had an injury early in the season this year, and then since he has come back, it just seems like he has hit the ground running. He has really found his game. He was the player of the week coming off of a huge week.

With the fact that we had a roster spot to be able to call someone up, it just made a lot of sense — while he has that positive momentum — to bring him back and get him in our mix.

There used to be this thinking in the league that if a player didn’t make it by 22 or 23, teams gave up on him. That has changed now. What do you think about giving players their first chance in their mid-20s?

Keefe: The margins for winning are so thin. You are trying to get one percent better wherever you can. I don’t think age or draft or contract status really comes into play as much. You are just trying to get better.

In terms of us, there is the faith we have in the Marlies and the ability we have to get players on AHL contracts. In a lot of ways, they’re like free draft choices to bring them in and get them in our program. No matter of contract status, we treat guys like they are a part of our organization.

In Bobby’s case, he has been in here the last couple of offseasons training with our guys. He is with the group. You can see the development. They end up being great AHL players and show that they have NHL potential. Here we are.

I don’t know about his status [for tomorrow’s game]. His situation will be connected to Auston’s. We will take it from there, but as I said about him not having a training camp with us previously, having this experience to come in here and be a part of of our group helps him further along in the event that we are able to put him in.

Is there one area where you have seen bigger steps from William Nylander than others?

Keefe: I think it is just greater consistency. He hasn’t had the lulls or dips in his game. When he has, he has brought it back real quick. That is really what it is about.

It has never been a question about his ability. We have all known him to be a great player and a guy who can carry play who can create offense and finish. He is doing it with greater consistency this year.

That is why he has been such a great player for us. I really like a lot of things about his game. He has earned everything that he has gotten for sure.

Is there more patience in his game when he has the puck on his stick?

Keefe: I am not sure. He has always been a guy who hasn’t had an issue with that — lots of poise and very good through the neutral zone.

I don’t think I have necessarily seen anything very different about his game that way except that it is happening more frequently. Maybe within that comes greater confidence and swagger to just hold onto it and do your thing. I think you are just seeing it a little bit more frequently.

He has always had that ability. He has certainly displayed it a number of times.

How do you feel Mark Giordano and Conor Timmins’ skill sets complement each other?

Keefe: I think Gio has shown the ability to pair well with anyone regardless of skill set and with a variety of different experiences and skill sets. That gives us confidence that no matter who we put him with, he can help them out.

In Timmins’ case, he is a guy that has shown that if he touches the puck in our end, it is usually going to end up on our stick and will help us get out of our end quickly. That helps Gio’s game.

To that end, it is a good pairing. There are some things that we were looking for in terms of how it might match up. Through that one game, we like what we saw. We will continue with it.

Any time you lose a guy like Brodie out of your lineup, as we have seen previously, Dean [Chynoweth] on the backend is going to move things around and play players in different spots with different partners. In terms of how we will start and how we will line up, we like this mix.

Is this the deepest defensive core you’ve had since you’ve been here?

Keefe: I think that is fair to say. Losing a guy like Muzz takes a big chunk out of your lineup for sure. As we have seen, I don’t know how many defensemen we have played this season — 10, 11, 12 — but we have utilized a lot of guys. They have all stepped up.

We have talked about how we didn’t have Carl Dahlstrom available — and still don’t have him available — but that is another guy that looks like he will come into the mix at some point.

In terms of the depth that is here with the eight that we have right now — seven with Brodie out — plus the guys with the Marlies, we have great confidence in them. More importantly, perhaps, our team game has propped up everybody.

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