Sheldon Keefe, Toronto Maple Leafs practice
Sheldon Keefe, Toronto Maple Leafs practice
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After Thursday’s practice, Sheldon Keefe discussed the probable return of Conor Timmins on Friday in Chicago, Calle Jarnkrok’s injury status after blocking a shot in practice, the timeline for John Klingberg’s injury situation, and much more.

Practice Lines – Nov. 23

Is there any concern about Calle Jarnkrok’s availability for the weekend?

Keefe: Enough concern that he didn’t skate today. We sent him to get some imaging done to make sure. He took the puck [to the leg] yesterday, and we didn’t like how it was feeling today. We sent him for imaging, but the news has been positive so far. He will come with us on the trip and be a game-time decision.

Is Conor Timmins ready to go for tomorrow in Chicago?

Keefe: He is preparing to play. We will use every second that we have before making that final decision on him. It has been a good couple of weeks for him now. That is what we are anticipating, but we won’t make that decision until tomorrow.

How does Timmins change the look of the defense?

Keefe: In terms of what he can provide with getting the puck moving and getting it to the net, it is similar to what Klingberg’s strengths are. It would help us on the power play as well.  Having more mobility, puck movement, and some offensive contributions can help us for sure.

It changes the look of it. Lagesson and Benoit have done a really good job for us in some defensive roles, helping our penalty kill, and stabilizing that for us. Timmins is a different look.

The other part of it is getting a right shot in there, which is important in terms of moving the puck and being a little more fluid with ourselves offensively in all three zones. Having the right shot will help there, too.

What is John Klingberg’s status — day to day, week to week?

Keefe: His status is that he is working through things to determine what is going to be the next steps for him.

What is your sense of how Ryan Reaves has handled waiting for his next chance to play?

Keefe: He has just been able to try to maximize the days that we have had. We haven’t played a lot of games, so he hasn’t missed a ton of game action when you look at it relative to the period of time since he last played. It is about maximizing the practice reps.

He has had a couple of good days of practice here. He is a part of our team. He is an important part of our team. He is a presence around our room. He is continuing to keep a good attitude, which we have loved.

He is a professional all the way through. He recognizes that the team has responded well in the last little bit. We still recognize that he is a piece of our team and we continue to maximize every day that he gets in order to keep him ready.

Are you going back to Ilya Samsonov tomorrow and then to Joseph Woll on Saturday?

Keefe: Yes, that is the plan.

Mitch Marner was upset with himself for taking the slashing penalty on Joel Eriksson-Ek. Do you see value in him standing up for himself in that situation similar to how William Nylander did it with the roughing penalty, or is it just a case of he can’t do it?

Keefe: You don’t love that one because it is so obvious and apparent, but you do love guys competing, holding their ground, and standing up for themselves. Sometimes you have to take those and you have to kill them, which is exactly what we did.

You want to find a way that you can do it without maybe the officials noticing. Sometimes you do have to hold your ground and stay in the fight. In that case, I liked it, especially knowing we got the kill.

60-minute efforts are easy to talk about but much tougher to achieve. Are you getting closer to that within your game?

Keefe: When you say full 60, you are talking about perfection, which is really difficult to attain, but I do think our defensive process has been far better which has given us a chance to win every game.

Early in the season, a lot of the times, we were beating ourselves with some of the mistakes we were making. I feel like that has improved dramatically. We are in a good place there. We are going to need that to continue.

In terms of the overall game, carrying play, and having good segments of each period over the course of 60 minutes, I don’t think we have done that yet. I think we had really good moments — enough good moments to be in games and give ourselves a chance to win games — but I don’t feel like we have had good segments of all three periosd in a game. We have recovered well and those things of things.

But the defensive play has improved significantly, which is why we have been collecting the points that we have.

You mentioned today’s practice would be a better indicator than yesterday’s coming off of the trip. What is your sense of where the group is at?

Keefe: The energy was still good today. It was a short but hard practice. I like the tempo and pace of where the guys are at. We are excited to get playing games.

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