Ahead of Saturday’s game against the Canadiens, Sheldon Keefe discussed Mitch Marner’s injury, integrating Joel Edmundson and Connor Dewar into the lineup, and scratching Simon Benoit in his home province.
Morning Skate Lines – Mar. 9
#Leafs lines during morning skate Mar. 9/24
Bertuzzi-Matthews-Nylander
Domi-Tavares-Jarnkrok
Knies-Kampf-McMann
Holmberg-Dewar-Reaves
Extra: Gregor
Absent(Marner)Brodie-McCabe
Rielly-Lyubushkin
Edmontn-Liljegren
Benoit-Timmins@BodogCA— David Alter (@dalter) March 9, 2024
What is the latest on Mitch Marner’s absence?
Keefe: He is day-to-day. He has a lower-body injury. We will get him assessed and know more when we get back home, but he is day-to-day right now.
How do you adjust without Marner?
Keefe: There are big minutes that need to be filled, but we have been through this before. Mitch has missed games before. We will move things around to compensate for some of it, but we have been through it before. Guys will step up.
What do you think Connor Dewar can bring to the group?
Keefe: I have to get to know him better as we get him here, but from what I have seen and what I have known of him…
First, he is going to really help our penalty kill. I think he is a smart player with lots of detail in his game and awareness defensively. There is stability that way, I think. He has the flexibility to play both center and wing. We like that about him.
It increases the depth and it’s a guy who can help us on the defensive side, and yet, he probably doesn’t get enough love for the fact that he has 10 goals already playing on the fourth line in Minnesota. There is some upside offensively at the same time.
Simon Benoit is the odd man out with Joel Edmundson entering the lineup. How did you arrive at that decision?
Keefe: Just looking at it, I feel like we need Liljegren’s right shot. We also want to put Liljegren with Edmundson to see how it can come together for us. This is an important time in Liljegren’s development for us to settle in. We are through the trade deadline. We know what our group looks like. We will give Lily a chance to grow within the role and with Edmundson.
We like how the other pairs are set up. That is really it. Quite frankly, it kills me to have to sit Benoit tonight, especially in this building, but I didn’t make the schedule and it is what is necessary for our team tonight.
Timothy Liljegren’s game was trending up, and then all of a sudden, it wasn’t. What is the version of him that you want to see down the stretch?
Keefe: I just want to see him playing and competing with confidence, closing quickly in the neutral zone, defending the rush, closing quickly in d-zone, and winning his physical and competitive battles around the net.
I think that is where Edmundson, as a partner, is going to help him a great deal. I think Edmundson, before long, will show that he is maybe the best defender on our team in that area of the game in protecting our net. That will help Lily.
We also need Lily to have confidence with the puck, skate, make plays, and be involved in the offense. It is an important piece that we need to make sure we are not losing sight of in terms of how our defense can contribute offensively and connect with the forwards.
What are you hoping to see from Tyler Bertuzzi on the top line?
Keefe: Just keep doing what he is doing. I thought he did a good job in that spot when I moved him up there when Knies left the lineup while Mitch was there.
I just think Bert has been playing really well. Not just because of his fight, but the way he competed the entire game out in Boston is the kind of guy that I believe is going to be there in those types of moments. He showed that.
His game has been coming along very well. I have been talking about it with you guys for a while. I envisioned him getting another go-around with Auston. The timing is right given that he got some exposure there just last game. We will stay with that and shuffle things around.
It gives us a chance to look at some different things here.
Is it a case of Marner’s absence also forcing you to take a look at some different options?
Keefe: It impacts things greatly. All of a sudden, it is not as attractive to have Matthews, Domi, and Tavares all down the middle because you have less offensive depth on the wing. You kind of move things around that way.
We also have Dewar, who can play left wing for us as well. We wanted him to play a position he has been playing and play with a guy in Reavo who has played with a lot in Minnesota. Reavo and Holmberg have played a lot together as well. We are trying to keep those pairs together as best as I can with Bertuzzi and Nylander, Tavares and Jarnkrok, and Holmberg and Reaves. You are kind of moving things around inside of that.
Was Ilya Samsonov starting in net part of the plan you mapped out at the beginning of the week?
Keefe: Yes, it was.
How do you try to sustain the intensity of the last couple of games against Boston into the final stretch post-trade deadline?
Keefe: That is really it. When you are playing those types of games, it forces you to get to another level that is not regular season-like. We have been talking about having a playoff edge to our games, our mindset, and our mentality for the rest of the way to secure a spot in the playoffs and have our game in order.
As much as games like the other night are not the real NHL through 82 games, it is the level you need to get to. Let’s stay there in terms of our competitiveness, urgency, and pace.
That is an environment you need to be able to thrive in. We want to see if we can bring our game to that level as consistently as we can in the remaining games. We will start tonight to finish off what has been a really busy week.
Are you happy with where your team game is trending right now?
Keefe: I think we have done lots of good things. Obviously, our seven-game winning streak is very much in the rear-view mirror right now, but we feel like there were a lot of things that grew in our game inside of that.
That is the model for us going ahead. I thought in our game the other night in Boston — while the result wasn’t right — our competitive level was where we needed it to be. With that, defending becomes that much better. You spend way less time in your zone.
I thought all of those kinds of things were there for us the other night. It is just a matter of how we can counter that to get more offense both at five-on-five and on our power play.
