Ahead of Saturday’s game in Montreal, head coach Sheldon Keefe discussed his spread-out attack, Auston Matthews’ all-around game, and Simon Benoit’s underdog story.
You mentioned discussing the spread-out look up front with the players. What was the message to William Nylander specifically, and what are you looking for from him in this spot?
Keefe: We are just looking for William to keep being William. He has been a driver on whatever line he has played on. He has had a terrific season. He makes our group better when playing at his best no matter where he is playing. That is really it.
We can talk about first line, second line, and third line, but the way I would like it to be is that each game could be different. William’s line could be the first line tonight. When you have the talent spread out like this, it is more about who is going on that particular night. On great nights, all of them would be going, but that is the idea: you have it spread out, and you get opportunities for different lines to go.
Our fourth line with Kampf, Reavo, and Dewar might have been our best line the other night. That is really what you are looking for—to get all of your groups thriving. Whether it is William on that line, Mitch with John, or Auston with Max and Bert, I expect those guys to drive it and be leaders in each of those groups.
John Tavares said he believed Auston Matthews should be a nominee for both the Hart Trophy and the Selke Trophy. Where do you see him league-wide in those conversations?
Keefe: We all get to watch Auston every single day. We are often in awe of his ability to score and produce at such a high level. But he does so many other great things off the puck to defend quickly and get us back on offense to drive our team. Certainly, it deserves recognition.
As far as the league-wide stuff, I don’t care, frankly. You can debate it. There are so many great players around the league who deserve the same recognition if you want to debate it. I don’t know and I don’t quite care. I just know we have a great player who drives our team.
Now, more than ever — having clinched a playoff spot and being able to narrow our focus even more on preparing for the playoffs — we want Auston to continue to drive our team to be ready for [the postseason].
Where do you think Auston’s commitment level defensively was when you first took over the job, and where do you think it is now?
Keefe: I don’t know if I would say commitment was necessarily the right word. Auston was a young guy still learning the league when I took over. When I began coaching here in Toronto, he was the youngest player on our team at the time. You forget that often because he was such a dominant player, but he was still sorting things out and figuring things out.
What has changed the most is Auston really coming to value and realize what is important in all areas of the game. That was my message to him after a month or so of getting to know him and coaching him: Being truly great, to me, is about impacting the game in way more ways than just scoring goals.
Right now, Auston is the greatest goal-scorer in the league. The pace is less than one goal a game. You are going to get 20-something shifts per game. How are you impacting the game in those areas? That is what really being great is. That is what can drive our team to be great.
I think he has really bought into that. As he has gotten older and more experienced, he has shown great passion for winning puck battles, defending hard, limiting time spent in the offensive zone, and valuing the puck. That is really what I am focused on.
Whether he gets recognition league-wide or whatever, it doesn’t matter to me. I don’t think it matters to him. For those who are watching every single day, you appreciate it. We certainly do. He is a big reason why we are going back to the playoffs again.
As you get defensemen back into the fold ahead of the playoffs, how important is it to see all of what you have together to figure out what you want to do in Game 1?
Keefe: I think we already have a pretty good sense of what we want to do. On forward, we have a pretty good sense of what we want to do.
There are seven games remaining, and things may change. Injuries being what they are, it has been hard to really settle on anything because we have been missing a lot of guys and very important guys. For instance, when you take Mitch out of the mix, not only does it mix up one line, but it changes the whole dynamic of your team. You have to really rejig the whole group to compensate for that.
As much as you are trying to get an eye toward the playoffs, you are still trying to get your game in order. You want to win the game. You want to build positivity. You want to manage that. I think we have done that really well with the adjustments that we have made. Through that, now you’ve found Domi, Matthews, and Bertuzzi.
That is what it is about—living each day as it comes. We are trying to work toward what we think could work for us in the playoffs, but we are also adjusting to what is here and who is available while recognizing that we have a number of guys who are comfortable playing in different situations.
We have dealt with injuries all season. We have dealt with guys struggling at different times, which we’ve had to adapt and adjust to. The players have done well. Any time we have re-shuffled the group because of injury, it seems like it has made our group stronger. To that end, I don’t think we have to be too rigid or stuck on anything.
We like the group we have today. We want to really see how it can grow over the next few weeks.
Now at game #76, what has Simon Benoit brought to the team and to the defense?
Keefe: In terms of his play, there is the size and physicality that he brings, and also, with his skating, he has the ability to close quickly. When you have length, skating ability, and physicality, you are closing fast and you are taking away time and space.
That is something that was very evident early on when he started really getting into a groove with us. He eliminates a lot of mistakes and a lot of time spent in our end because of how he closes. That is what we really like and value about his game.
He has really worked hard on trying to improve his game offensively with the puck. He is never going to be a guy who produces points or anything like that, but it’s the ability to transport the puck out of our zone, get us out of trouble, and get the puck into the forward’s hands.
The other part of it is that he is just a tremendous person. He works extremely hard. He is very coachable. He wants to get better. He has been a tremendous add to our group. It was a tough start for him going down to the minors and dealing with injuries, but in terms of how he has dealt with it, you couldn’t ask for more.
When your team has so many star players, how important is it to have an underdog story like Benoit’s?
Keefe: It’s a great question and a great point. I think it is terrific. The guys have rallied around it. Because of his personality, the guys get that much more excited about it.
We have had a number of those types of things if you look at Bobby McMann and his story this season or the story of how Ilya Samsonov’s season has gone. There have been lots of great things that are under the surface with our group from the outside, but internally, they are really important and our guys really value them.
