When the Leafs stepped off the ice after the morning skate in Tampa, the roster was the same as when they left the dressing room. On trade deadline day, no news is news. In this case, no news is good news for Leo Komarov, an impending free agent whose name has been floated in either trade rumours or talks or both. And in this case no news is bad news for Josh Leivo, who has been hoping for a change of address to get him into games and establish himself as something more than the first or second guy called down out of the press box.
Komarov skated on the left side and Leivo the right of yesterday’s news, Tomas Plekanec, the 35-year-old centre who came over to the Leafs from the Habs over the weekend. Plekanec’s 982nd NHL game will be the first he doesn’t play in a Canadiens sweater and also the first he plays in a blue turtleneck, his much-derided personal fashion statement.
Style notes aside, Mike Babcock offered Plekanec’s thumbnail profile in the coach’s trademarked staccato reading.
“A mature player who knows how to play without the puck, a good faceoff guy. He can penalty kill for us. We’re excited to have him. Been a long time in one spot. We want to get as deep as we possibly can. There’s always injuries.”
The last count, looming wounds, is precisely why it was incumbent on the Leafs to get a player like Plekanec, a pick-up somewhat in the mould of the deal last year that brought Brian Boyle over to the team in the run-up to the deadline. In fact, Babcock’s thumbnail of Plekanec is almost word for word the same as the one the coach offered with Boyle’s pick-up, minus the word “big.”
When Auston Matthews went down with a shoulder injury, a separation, that will separate him from the line-up for a guesstimated four weeks, the Leafs needed to add some depth at centre, stat. Some figured that Plekanec’s arrival would allow Babcock to keep William Nylander on the right wing—a Zach Hyman-Plekanec-Nylander line in Matthews’s absence. At the morning skate, however, Nylander was centering Hyman and Kasperi Kapanen. These next few weeks will likely help to answer questions about the position that best suits Nylander for the long run.
Meanwhile, the end of Plekanec’s long run is looming out there and he put on a good show of being unfazed by a trade out of the city that he has made his home.
“I haven’t had much time to think about it,” he said. “I’m looking forward to the experience [of playing with the Leafs] for sure.”
Plekanec went on to say that the Leafs weren’t quite a roomful of strangers, that he knew Roman Polak and Ron Hainsey among others. Still, by 3 p.m. ET Plekanec could be saying goodbye to guys he was just introducing himself to hours before.
Deadline day is a bit of a Twilight Zone experience for all involved in the arena. It might be that Matthews’s injury has shortened up the Leafs’ options somewhat. Kapanen was a pretty impressive asset that Leafs GM Lou Lamoriello could have moved in trade for a defenceman, but, now … well, maybe not so much. If he’s still around at 3:01 Monday afternoon, Kapanen will get a chance to skate beside Nylander and together they made some magic with the Marlies a couple of seasons back.
Said Babcock: “The big thing for him, if he just plays like he’s played, he’ll be fine. As soon as he starts to try to do too much he’ll be in trouble. We had that conversation this morning.”
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Conversations Babcock will have Monday after practice are more likely to be with his GM.
“Whatever the lineup is it’s the line-up you have. We like our hockey club. We liked it before yesterday. We like our hockey club now. If it’s different at three [p.m.] it’s different. If it’s not, it’s not.”
Babcock did hint at the fact that he’d like to see the Leafs in play for deals. “Lou and I talk all the time. I hope when I call this afternoon it’s busy.”
At some other juncture of the season, talk this day would revolve around the fact that the Leafs’ trip to Tampa offers a possible playoff preview or the torrid streak the Leafs have been on, winning nine of the past 10 games. That’s almost incidental on a day when a player’s name over his stall in the visitors’ dressing room might be removed while a player has his afternoon nap. If he can sleep.
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