After Friday’s practice, head coach Sheldon Keefe discussed his new lineup configuration with Mitch Marner returning from injury and Ilya Samsonov’s nomination for the Masterton Trophy.
Practice Lines – Apr. 5
Leafs lines at practice
Bertuzzi – Matthews – Domi
McMann – Tavares – Marner
Knies – Holmberg – Nylander
Dewar – Kampf – Reaves
Gregor, RobertsonRielly – Lyubushkin
Benoit – McCabe
Giordano – Brodie
Edmundson – TimminsSamsonov
Woll
Jones @TSN_Edge— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) April 5, 2024
With Mitch Marner returning, what made you want to go with this spread-out look?
Keefe: The first thing is that we’re happy with how the line of Bertuzzi and Domi has gone with Matthews. There is that. It opens up some opportunities to look at some different things there.
I think Mitch has played a lot with John, and that has gone well. And with Willy, having those guys on separate lines gives us some really good options and spreads out our scoring depth, in particular, really well.
We will give it a look.
Defensively, how would it affect your choices regarding matching up against the other team’s top players?
Keefe: In the last stretch of games, returning to the Edmonton game, I primarily used John Tavares as the top defensive matchup. I suspect I will continue with that. We are going on the road tomorrow night, but I will continue that. Mitch’s presence on that line enhances my ability to do that. It frees Auston up a little bit more with his line.
When you are doing something like this, you have an eye toward what it may look like in the playoffs. With that, when you are in the playoffs, you know you have to be able to rely on more than one line. You want just to roll your group and not have to overthink it. It is a step toward looking that way.
Is this something you would’ve done sooner if there hadn’t been the injury to Marner?
Keefe: We already had it spread out with the three guys, but it was John on a separate line before. We’ve already sort of looked at that. We have looked at it in different ways in the past. Willy has played with David Kampf for a bunch in the past. We have looked at different things like this in the past.
Domi has played primarily as a center for us this year, so it is a little more limiting when you have Domi in there. Holmberg getting a good run in the middle has allowed us to stick with this and continue with Max on the wing, knowing we can adjust it if need be.
The biggest thing is that, while Mitch was out, we found a groove with Auston and his line. John and Bobby McMann have played very well together as well. I think it works really well for us. I am anxious to see it on the ice.
How important is settling on the line combinations at game #75 now? With Calle Jarnkrok still out, are things still up in the air?
Keefe: I don’t know if settling on lines… I mean, we are always going to be a fluid group. It is just the way our group is.
Even with the way the lines are now, in theory, you have the guys spread out over three lines and it looks really great. When you get into the game and you get TV timeouts, faceoffs, special teams, and three different rotations before you can get your top people out on the ice, it can slow them down. It slows the pace of your offense down. That is a challenge. That is why you don’t see it happen very often. It is tough.
When the game is flowing and there are not many whistles, depth is really, really important so you can roll consistent lines and get everybody involved in the game. But a lot of the games — especially in the regular season — are slow. There are a lot of whistles. There are stoppages of play. You have to manage that when you have top people used to playing top minutes and you have them spread out. That is on me to manage it.
That is why people move around. We think it helps them and also makes us a little bit hard to defend against, too. The opposition doesn’t necessarily know what is coming.
What have you liked about the Matthews line of late?
Keefe: I just think Auston and Max have found really good chemistry in their give-and-go game, which is something you see a lot with Mitch in that spot. Bert, to me, has played an integral role on the line. I don’t know how many goals now, but if you go back through their goals, Bert is either scoring himself or he is at the net and Auston is finding ways to shoot it through traffic.
There are a lot of good things happening with Bert’s role there, but the chemistry of Auston and Max’s ability to come through the neutral zone and attack on entries, combined with Bert going to the net and allowing those guys to do work off the puck, are the elements that have made any line that Auston has played on do well. That has continued.
It hasn’t had a dip for me yet. That is what you are looking for. Sometimes, you try different things, you get a bit of a bump, and over time, it is not overly sustainable. But that one has looked really good.
We know Mitch with Auston works. We can go to that at any time. But this is a good look for us. I have met with each of the guys — not so much today but last week — laying the groundwork that we might be looking for something like this. Guys are all about it and recognize the potential that is there.
Ilya Samsonov was named as the nominee for the Masterton Trophy. He said he is not thinking about the past, just the future.
Keefe: So much of his season has been about staying in the moment and focusing on what is in front of him. He has handled himself mentally in dealing with whatever is coming at him—pressures, challenges, and adversities.
The fact that he has been able to stay in the moment has helped him find his game and focus on getting better at the important things without bothering with anything outside of his control. That is important for anybody, but particularly for him and the way the season started to where it is now. It has been his biggest area for improvement. It is good to see that he remains that way.
