Craig Berube on William Nylander filling in at center in practice without Matthews & Domi: “He’s really good in the faceoff dot, and he was fine in the middle today… He looked good to me”

After Friday’s practice, head coach Craig Berube discussed Auston Matthews’ status (ruled out for Saturday vs. Edmonton), Max Domi’s status after missing practice (maintenance), William Nylander filling in at center, and Connor McDavid coming to town this weekend.

Practice Lines – Nov. 15

Lines at Leafs practice

McMann – Tavares – Marner
Knies – Nylander – Robertson
Steeves – Kampf – Holmberg
Dewar – Lorentz – Revaes

McCabe – Tanev
Rielly – Hakanpää
Ekman-Larsson – Timmins
Benoit – Myers

Stolarz
Woll

Absent: Matthews, Domi@TSN_Edge

— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) November 15, 2024

What’s the latest on Auston Matthews? How is he progressing?

Berube: Normal. There are no setbacks. We are doing what we can. We have two games in a long stretch of time here. We are just letting him recover.

I talked before about how we want to get him to 100%. We want to get it behind us so he can move forward and we can move forward. It does help that we play two games in I-don’t-know-how-many days.

Given Matthews was listed as day-to-day initially 10 days ago, are you surprised it has lingered this long?

Berube: Everybody is different. All injuries are different. I don’t have an answer for you with that.

Would I like him back? Yeah, for sure, but it is what it is. We just have to keep moving on without him right now.

What is Max Domi’s status?

Berube: Maintenance. He is obviously fighting through something, too. He will be good to go tomorrow. It is just more maintenance for him.

How is Domi dealing with the mental strain of the longest drought of his career points-wise?

Berube: Players like that are going to struggle mentally a little bit with it, but he had some opportunities last game that didn’t go in. He just has to keep fighting through it. He will be fine.

He feels it. I feel it for him. We talk to him about it. He has to fight through it, and he is right now.

William Nylander took some reps at center today.

Berube: Yeah, Max is out. We talked about center with Willy at camp. What I like about it is that he still takes draws, and he is still in there. That is what he has to keep doing. He is really good in the faceoff dot — 55% on the year — and he was fine in the middle today. He looked good to me.

Alex Steeves has been knocking on the door, trying to get into the NHL for a while now. What did you like about him in camp, and what did you like about his game the other night?

Berube: I thought he had a really good camp with his energy, his work ethic, and his puck battles.

He came in and did a fine job for us last game, too. He was fine in the game. We were happy with him. He has to stay focused when he gets an opportunity, go in there, and do his best.

With Conor Timmins, was there a point in camp when he “popped” for you?

Berube: In the exhibition games, I really liked his competitiveness and how he competed defensively. With the puck, he does make good plays with it and exits out of our zone. That was always in his game. For me, the other side of the game popped in camp and exhibition games.

Coming to town Saturday night, Connor McDavid just broke 1,000 points, the fourth fastest in NHL history.

Berube: Pretty incredible. If you look at today’s game and how fast it is, the structure of the game, and how teams play defense… I am not taking anything away from the great players before him — they were obviously great, and they could probably dominate today’s game still — but it is very impressive. He is a very impressive player.

I coached against him for a while now. It’s incredible with his speed, agility, and control of the puck at that speed. Incredible.

Are you happy McDavid got 1,000 points out of the way before he comes to town?

Berube: For sure, but he will be tough to handle. We are going to have to do a really good job. Everyone has to pay attention when he is on the ice to take time and space away from him as best as you can and deny him the puck as much as you can.

You played against Wayne Gretzky. How do they compare?

Berube: (Laughs) I am not comparing players. Wayne Gretzky is Wayne Gretzky. That is the best way I can put it. There is only one Wayne Gretzky.

What Wayne did for the game and the numbers are incredible. He is Wayne Gretzky. That is the only way I can put it. There is no other Wayne Gretzky.