After Wednesday’s practice, head coach Craig Berube discussed the glue-guy characteristics of Scott Laughton’s personality, Nic Roy’s recent play, the power play’s ongoing struggles, and Matias Maccelli sitting out a string of games as a healthy scratch.
What is your sense of how Matias Maccelli is handling sitting out games as a scratch right now?
Berube: I think he obviously wants to play. We all know that — everybody wants to play — but he has handled it positively. He knows that he has to be better. We put him in the Washington game, and there wasn’t a lot there. I thought he struggled in that game. We won the last couple, so I am not going to change the lineup. We’ll see.
Can you think of an example of how Scott Laughton has impacted the culture or energy of the group?
Berube: He brings spirit to your team. Team spirit is really important. I believe — I don’t believe; I know it — that he brings that team spirit every game. He is a great teammate and a likeable guy. He is always chatting and talking. He brings a lot to the team outside of the ice. It is important. Locker rooms are very important in this game, and he impacts the ice with his work ethic and second and third efforts out there as a player.
Can you think of a comparable for Laughton in terms of personality?
Berube: I [coached] Patty Maroon. He was a different player, but he was one of those guys in St. Louis. He brings a lot of team spirit and energy to the room and the bench. He is all about the team.
What have you learned about Nic Roy in the first 25 or so games of the season?
Berube: I always thought Nic was a good player from watching him in Vegas for a number of years. He is strong on pucks. When I watch Nic, he hangs onto pucks and is very good at being in the spot in the center position to take pucks and then transport them up the ice. He is just strong on it and thinks the game pretty well out there, too. He has a good head on his shoulders. For me, it is all about him hanging onto pucks; he creates a lot that way.
Sticking with the combination of Roy and Dakota Joshua seems to be paying off now.
Berube: It is. They are forming an identity, those three guys right now. They are all on the same page. You have some good speed out there with Bobby (McMann) getting on pucks, and [Joshua] is really starting to skate now, too. It is the difference in his game for me: his skating.
You mentioned running out of patience with the five-forward power-play unit in Florida. How much more runway will you afford them, or is it best to move away from the experiment?
Berube: I am still undecided in that department. I am still thinking about it. We didn’t work on it today. I didn’t think it was a good day for it, but we definitely have to figure it out. The players have to figure it out.
Why did you choose not to work on the power play today?
Berube: After a game, I don’t think their heads were going to be into it. I didn’t want to tax the penalty kill, either. We played last night. I didn’t feel like it was a day to work on it.
What was missing from the top power-play unit when you used a defenseman up top, whether it was Morgan Rielly or Oliver Ekman-Larsson?
Berube: I don’t know if it was because we changed the D; they’re not the issue. It is everybody on the ice who has to be accountable to it. It is not just one guy. We are just trying to find something that works. More than anything, that is why.
Last year, we went to five forwards, and it worked. It pretty much worked most of the season. We just thought that getting Matthews up top and getting the puck in his hands a little bit more… As I said, we have to keep working on it and find some chemistry somewhere.
What have you noticed about Easton Cowan that’s allowed him to earn more trust as the games have gone by?
Berube: Making plays under pressure, and making smart players under pressure for the most part. There are still things we work on daily with him on video, but he is a good listener, and he wants to learn. He wants to get better. That is why he is improving, in my opinion. He has made a lot of good plays; he made a lot of good plays last night that go unnoticed, in my opinion.
I just love his engine. He just goes. He skates hard, works, and competes. We’ll just keep working with him. For young guys, it takes a little bit of time to get it down, but he is getting it down pretty quickly, in my opinion.
Where do you think William Nylander is physically? He had the illness, missed a game, and played a season-low in Florida.
Berube: He is fine physically. His ice time was his ice time last night. It wasn’t like he didn’t get out there. He was out there with his line every shift. In the ice time, they don’t mark them properly up there half the time anyway, so I don’t really go off of it.
I thought Willy worked last night. A lot didn’t happen with that line offensively, but this is what I tell you when we play Florida. It is going to be that way sometimes. What I liked about their line is that they didn’t force things; they just kept it, kept working, and kept doing the job.
It is going to happen at times.
Do you expect to use Dennis Hildeby in one of the next few games?
Berube: It is possible. I don’t know yet.
What is the state of the team’s energy levels over a long road trip like this?
Berube: The energy has been really good. The guys being together on the road has been really good for us — being together at dinners, being around each other. It’s been really good. The bench has been good, and the room. Even this morning in practice after a game, I liked the energy out there today.
Practice Lines – Dec. 3
Lines at Leafs practice
Knies – Matthews – Domi
Cowan – Tavares – Nylander
Joshua – Roy – McMann
Lorentz – Laughton – Robertson
Maccelli, JarnkrokRielly – Ekman-Larsson
McCabe – Stecher
Benoit – Myers
MermisWoll
Hildebyat Hurricanes tomorrow @TSN_Sports pic.twitter.com/Mh08cFVQOE
— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) December 3, 2025
