TORONTO — The Toronto Maple Leafs unveiled their first crack at a loaded top power-play unit, and Jack Roslovic is on it.
Which means strong PP1 candidates Matthew Knies and Gavin McKenna find themselves starting with the second group.
Surprise.
McKenna, 18, is only making his pro exhibition debut Saturday versus the Montreal Canadiens in split-squad action, and the organization is hesitant to heap too much on the rookie’s plate out of the gate.
As for the 227-pound Knies, a net-front beast, well, he simply curves his blade the wrong way.
So, Hiller has dropped righty Roslovic down low, lefty John Tavares in the bumper spot, snipers Auston Matthews (left) and William Nylander (right) on the flanks, and booming new point weapon Darren Raddysh (right) up top.
“In a perfect world,” Hiller explained, “you have middle lefty, righty at the bottom.
“That doesn't mean that's the only way you can run a successful power play, but I think when you're asking why is (Roslovic) getting that early opportunity there, I think the handedness helps him out.”
Maple Leafs top power play:
Raddysh
Matthews – Tavares – Nylander
Roslovic
Toronto’s power play, which tumbled to 15th overall last season (21.3 per cent) and cost assistant coach Marc Savard his job at Christmas, will be critical to the club’s success this season.
Not only did John Chayka recruit Raddysh and Roslovic, the new GM hired Toronto’s former power-play coach to run the bench and swiped expert power-play mind Daniel Alfredsson from Ottawa to help orchestrate the 5-on-4 attack.
The way this roster is constructed, it’s difficult to imagine them returning to the post-season without a top-10 (top-five?) power play.
Hiller made a point to chat one-on-one with former PP1 staple Knies (11 power-play goals and 20 power-play assists over the past two seasons) at Saturday’s morning skate.
Roslovic had four goals and two assists on Edmonton’s power play last season. He has 21 power-play goals and 26 power-play assists over 595 career games. The first-liner has been given a great opportunity out of the gate here in Toronto.
Knies will be hunting for more power-play minutes.
Ditto McKenna.
“We don’t want to put extra pressure on him,” Hiller said of the first-overall draft pick. “If you ask him, he’d probably say, ‘I want to play 22 minutes. I want on the first power play.’ And that’s exactly what he should say. But for us, we just want to get him started in the NHL, see what it feels like, and then there’ll be a chance over time — whether that's one game, two, 10, 20 — where his role will increase in different areas. But we just have a lot of good players. So, fortunately, he doesn’t have to start there.”
Raddysh boasts one of the scariest point bombs in the sport, and Hiller wants him to “just keep pounding away,” until the penalty killers take away that option.
Then Matthews and Nylander will get their looks.
“Anytime there’s somebody at the top with an extremely hard shot, accurate shot, that becomes a focus, and the other players become less of a focus,” Hiller said. “We know we've got some other players that can shoot extremely well, too.
“So, you're gonna have to pick your poison a little bit.”
