TSN Toronto Reporter Kristen Shilton reports on the Maple Leafs, who held a practice Friday on their fifth day of training camp at Ford Performance Centre.
Frederik Andersen hasn’t had much to say publicly about potentially playing out the final year of his contract, and apparently there hasn’t been much dialogue between the Maple Leafs and their starter on a new deal either.
“There’s been a little bit [of negotiation] but not too much else,” Andersen told reporters on a Zoom call Friday. “Right now we’re just focused on getting started.”
The 31-year-old netminder is currently on the last season of his five-year, $25 million contract signed back in June 2016. And with no impending clarity about his future, Andersen is content to do most of his talking on the ice.
“I try not to think too much about [the contract], actually. The main focus has been just going day by day,” he said. “Here on the team we try to raise our levels, raise our standards, and I think that’s everyone. That’s really just been my focus and I know by doing that, I’m going to get the best opportunities in the future and this year of course is the main focus. So I think just by focusing on the daily process it’s going to help me do well and that’s going to help the team [too].”
Andersen has been carrying the load in net for Toronto ever since he arrived via trade from Anaheim, and agreed on that expiring five-year pact. Since the 2016-17 season, Andersen has started more games (244) than any goaltender in the NHL, and ranks third overall in wins with a 136-66-33 record.
There’s no doubt that’s placed him among the Leafs’ most important pieces, but head coach Sheldon Keefe said his team can’t allow anyone’s looming free agency to derail this coming year.
“Distractions are really what you make of them,” Keefe said. “It’s a matter of remaining focused, controlling what you can control, and that’s whether you’re in a contract year or not. That’s the message to our team: Block out the noise and focus on what we can control every single day and that’s really all that matters. We don’t expect there to be any distractions here; that’s on us to manage that.”
When it comes to managing Andersen’s workload in a shortened 56-game season, the goaltender says he hasn’t been told what his number of starts might look like, and it could be too soon to predict a total.
“Sometimes you feel in a groove, sometimes you play tougher games. I think it’s really tough to say because it’s a lot of hypotheticals,” he said. “I think it’s tough to know beforehand what games are harder to play and what kind of workload you’re getting in that game. So I think we have to see it day-by-day and how it plays out.”
What Andersen does know for sure is that whether it’s him or backup Jack Campbell in net, Keefe’s rigorous training camp is helping prepare them for a difficult road ahead.
“I do think it will be a tough stretch of games either way,” Andersen said. “I think the main focus here in camp is just to get off to a good start and really put the emphasis on the process we do day-to-day here, and I think that’s going to set us up the best way every game. Whether it’s me or Soup that plays, we’ll have to see on a nightly basis and I think together we’ll help each other play good when called upon.”
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Auston Matthews had nothing but good things to say about taking the first penalty kill reps of his career on Friday.
“I like it. I think it’s something that I can grow into,” Matthews said. “I’m just taking it step by step, talking to guys like [Mitch Marner and Zach Hyman], some experienced guys that have been doing this for a couple years and just kind of picking their brain. Just having good structure out there, it takes a little bit of thinking but at the end of the day, you’re just playing hockey.”
Just as he and Marner have been paired as linemates in camp, so too were they matched in Friday’s shorthanded drills. Keefe said previously he was going to give Matthews a part-time role on the PK this season for a number of reasons, which he expanded on in Friday’s media session.
“[Today was] the first time that I’ve ever seen him take a penalty kill rep in a practice and you can just see the presence and the difference that he can make,” Keefe said. “So we want to capitalize on that, and capitalize on the fact that he’s strong in the faceoff circle. We want to also ensure that [we’re prepared for] whatever the game is bringing. Maybe we have to kill multiple penalties in a row and he’s sat for a long period of time, and you have no ability to use him. Now he knows what he’s doing, he knows what the expectations are, because he’s practised it. And then sometimes, the game is on the line, there’s a really big moment, and to have a player like Auston not involved in that, that’s something that doesn’t make you feel very good as a coach.”
Matthews also earned rave early reviews on his penalty-killing skills from Marner and Joe Thornton, who called him “a big horse…with a great hockey mind” for that side of special teams. And Matthews himself can see, too, where his input would be valuable.
“Just knocking on pucks, getting in lanes and anticipating the play, anticipating the power-play guys out there and just having a knack for that,” he listed. “At the end of the day, you’re trying to keep the puck out of your net, so just try not to get too anxious out there and stay patient but I think there’s definitely a lot of characteristics that I can bring that are positive to the penalty kill, it’s just learning some new stuff along the way.”
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Thornton may be almost 20 years older than his new linemates Matthews and Marner, but he’s found that’s not much of a barrier in building their solid forward unit.
“We’re still getting to know each other but it’s been really good so far,” Thornton said. “We’re continuing to talk, to see where each other is going to be, where each other likes to shoot from or who wants to be net-front and things like that. But Auston brings everything, he’s so strong, he’s got great speed, and his shot is very dangerous. I like Mitchy, who also has great speed, he sees the ice very well, he’s very shifty and has as a very underrated shot. For me it’s just getting these guys the puck, do some dirty work, and it should be an effective line.”
Marner holds the advantage of having played with Matthews before, so he’s been dialed in on learning Thornton’s tendencies as well in an effort to complement the veteran.
“It’s just trying to figure out where Joe likes to go, where he likes to put the puck coming out of our d-zone and what he likes to do,” Marner said. “So I’m trying to figure all that stuff out. I know Jumbo’s always wanting to be behind the net, below the goal line making plays, holding off guys. For me it’s more so trying to be a little bit of a worm in the slot, trying to find a spot to go and quickly get it off my stick. That’s something I’m trying to work on pretty frequently, just finding those spots, getting it off my stick quickly. I think as soon as our games really do start, it’ll just click in.”
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It wasn’t until Friday’s practice that Keefe first turned the Leafs’ attention onto special teams, and where his new-look groups got their first crack at practicing together.
“The two units that we worked with today, we had one with John Tavares, William Nylander, Hyman and Jason Spezza with Mikko Lehtonen,” Keefe revealed. “And then we had one with Morgan Rielly, Matthews, Marner, Thornton and Wayne Simmonds.”
That breaks up last season’s top group, consisting of Tavares, Nylander, Matthews, Marner and the since-departed Tyson Barrie. But that was by design for Keefe and power play coach Manny Malhotra.
“The decisions around that are that we feel with the addition of Thornton and Simmonds in particular, it gives us two guys that have lots to offer the power play, and is enough so that we feel like we can create two units and kind of separate the four forwards we utilized on our No. 1 unit last season,” Keefe explained. “So we want to give that a go here. We like what it does in terms of the competitiveness of the two units competing with each other, and the fact that we can remain more fresh and have more urgency to the things that we do.”
But, of course, these new alignments don’t mean the old look won’t make an appearance during the season.
“I don’t think we’ve seen the end of those four guys all remaining together,” Keefe said of his former No. 1 unit. “We know that we can go to it at any time and we’ll see some of the way line changes and things will flow. We think it’s really important to give our best players the proper opportunity on the power play, so sometimes that means going over a minute at different times and we’ll adjust accordingly.”
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Technically, Saturday’s Blue & White game is just an intra-squad scrimmage. The Leafs have much higher expectations for it than that, though.
“We’re transitioning now into our game day tomorrow,” Keefe said. “We’ll go down to Scotiabank Arena and have a morning skate there tomorrow. Generally speaking, it’s going to replicate a typical exhibition game and not necessarily like a scrimmage. There will be three 20-minute periods, and what we will do differently is we’re going to have shootouts at the end of the first and second periods, and then regardless of score, we’ll play five minutes of 3-on-3 overtime.”
Keefe said Andersen and Campbell will each play two periods for their respective teams, while Aaron Dell will play one period for each side. And thanks to some cooperation on the NHL’s part, Toronto was also able to secure a final element of realism for the tilt.
“In terms of the officials, my understanding is that we’re going to have a full NHL staff with two refs and two linesmen,” Keefe went on. “So we’re trying to put together a situation as close as we can for what you would get in an exhibition setting. The refs and linesmen are in the NHL [COVID-19] protocol and the testing and all those kind of things and they themselves are getting ready for the season. So we’re happy to have them.”
After Team Blue demolished Team White 6-0 two days ago in the Leafs’ first camp scrimmage, players are hoping this tune-up will provide some more much-needed in-game preparations before Montreal visits for their season opener on Wednesday.
“I think just skating, getting your lungs back into it and trying to build good habits, getting a little bit physical out there, getting used to feeling that pressure because we have no exhibition games this year,” Matthews said of his goals for the scrimmage. “We’re just jumping right into the fire. I think it’s going to be important that each side really pushes the pace, pushes the intensity of the play and make it as game-like as possible.”
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Keefe provided an update on injured forward Alex Kerfoot, who skated for the first time on Friday after hurting his leg going into the boards on Tuesday.
“He’s progressing, and the fact that he’s skated today is a very positive sign,” Keefe said. “What it means going forward [for Wednesday’s game], I don’t have that answer here yet.”
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Leafs’ lines on Friday:
Forwards
Thornton-Matthews-Marner
Vesey-Tavares-Nylander
Mikheyev-Engvall-Hyman
Barabanov-Spezza-Simmonds
Defencemen
Rielly-Brodie
Muzzin-Holl
Lehtonen-Bogosian
Sandin-Dermott
Goaltenders
Andersen
Campbell
