The Maple Leafs held a morning skate (game group) and practice (non-playing group) at Ford Performance Centre on Thursday.
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For the first time at training camp, Max Domi skated on the top line with Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies. How can he make the most of the opportunity?
“What he did in practice today, take it to the game,” advised coach Craig Berube with a smile.
“Skated and shot pucks. He looked really good to me. You know, I like that, direct.”
Berube planned to start Domi with Matthews and Knies, but the veteran winger sustained a lower-body injury and missed the start of training camp.
“I played with him before for a few games, so I know how he plays,” said Knies. “I know he can make a lot of plays and create space for us. He’s a really hard-nosed player who plays physical, plays below the goal line, could still make plays up top. So yeah, he’s a good addition to our line for sure.”
“He can play in that grind game,” said defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson. “He can play that skill game. He’s got some speed and a good shot. I think that line is going to be good.”
Domi caught fire while playing on a line with Matthews and Tyler Bertuzzi late in the 2023-24 season.
“He kind of likes to play that give-and-go game, which I like,” Matthews noted last week.
Matias Maccelli got the first look on the first line to start camp. He picked up the secondary assist on a goal by Matthews in Toronto’s 3-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night.
“He’s a really shifty player,” Matthews told reporters after the game. “He’s slippery out there, and he obviously has really good vision. But I thought we communicated well, and he created some good offensive chances.”
Maccelli will play in Thursday’s pre-season game in Montreal on a line with Bobby McMann and David Kampf.
Toronto’s top line did not make the trip to Montreal.
Domi may make his pre-season debut on Saturday when the Leafs host the Canadiens.
“There’s a chance,” said Berube. “I don’t know for sure right now, but possibly, yeah.”
Domi makes good impression in first camp look with Matthews Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube praises Max Domi’s effort at practice in his first look with Auston Matthews at camp, while Matthew Knies credits Domi for what he brings to the line.
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Berube believes Matthews will need to make some adjustments without Mitch Marner on his right side this season.
“Auston might take another step and start hanging onto pucks and beating people himself one-on-one,” the coach said last week.
Knies thinks it will be business as usual on the left side of Toronto’s top line.
“I want to play the same way,” the 22-year-old stressed. “I think that gives our line success no matter who’s on the right wing. I think it creates a lot of opportunities for Auston, for Domes. I think my job is just to be around the net, score those dirty goals, play physical, get the puck back, and play sound defensively.”
Marner’s absence is changing things for Knies on the penalty kill. He has been taking Marner’s spot beside Matthews during shorthanded reps so far at camp. Marner led all Leafs forwards averaging 2:09 of shorthanded ice time per game last season. Knies was fourth at 1:21.
“My rookie year, I think I was a little bit on and off on the penalty kill,” Knies noted. “And then this last year, I got a full taste of a full season on the penalty kill. I’m getting more experience with it. Obviously playing against top units now, it’s a little bit of a challenge, but I think I’ve grown a lot as a player in that department. So, yeah, I’m excited to get that opportunity to go with Auston and kill against the best units.”
Knies believes the chemistry generated with Matthews, a fellow Arizona native, in 5-on-5 play will carry over to the penalty kill.
“He has obviously an incredible IQ that helps me,” Knies said. “I just kind of have to read off him and I think we just do a really good job of that.”
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William Nylander missed Thursday’s practice.
“Just maintenance, you know, camp kind of stuff,” Berube said of the star winger. “Got a little banged up, but he’s fine. Yeah, that’s all it was.”
With Nylander absent, Calle Jarnkrok moved up to the right-wing spot beside John Tavares.
“He had a great first game in Ottawa,” Berube noted. “Just his work ethic and practice habits are exceptional. He looks like a good Jarny.”
Jarnkrok is looking to get back on track after missing most of last season following groin and sports hernia surgery.
“You can see it,” said Tavares. “You can see that he just feels good. He’s not worrying about: How am I going to feel today? Am I sore? What are my limitations? He can just go out there and be the player that he is.
“He’s shown how effective he can be, how under the radar he is. Just [can] play anywhere in your lineup and do so many things really, really well — and so easy to play with. So, yeah, it was nice being out there with him today. Just a true veteran, and good to see him back.”
Leafs Ice Chips: Nylander banged up; Jarnkrok impresses Tavares With William Nylander banged up, Calle Jarnkrok skated in his spot alongside John Tavares and he’s looking to get back on track this season after missing most of last year following groin and sports hernia surgery. TSN’s Mark Masters has more.
Defenceman Simon Benoit remains sidelined with an upper-body injury. He has not skated with the main group since Friday.
With Benoit out, 19-year-old Ben Danford is lining up beside Ekman-Larsson on Toronto’s third pair.
“Good kid,” said Ekman-Larsson, who is preparing for his 16th NHL season. “A lot of exciting things out on the ice. He moves the puck really well. It’s fun to get a chance to play with him for sure and try to help him out there.”
Danford, a first-round pick in 2024, is making the most of his opportunity after missing all of last year’s training camp due to a concussion.
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Top prospect Easton Cowan will play a third straight pre-season game as he continues his quest to crack the Leafs roster at age 20.
“Just seems a lot more comfortable and familiar with everything that comes with camp,” said Tavares. “And just what he needs to do to be the player that he is and to make an impact, and just being consistent from day to day. I think when you’re young, especially someone as talented as him, you can always think about the results a lot and really [it’s] just the way you’re playing and just the process to it. You can just sense that he’s got a good feeling of an understanding of what he has to do, just shift to shift to play well and impact the game.”
Cowan, the team’s first-round pick in 2023, made a nice no-look pass to set up a McMann power-play goal on Tuesday.
As was the case on Tuesday, Cowan will start on a line with Steven Lorentz and Scott Laughton in Montreal.
“Obviously his skill sticks out more than anything,” said Lorentz. “You can tell when he’s got the puck on his stick, that’s when he’s comfortable, right? And you can tell the comfort he’s getting there even when he’s playing without the puck, and that’s a sign of maturing as a professional and that’s what the management and everybody wants to see in his game … He’s made tremendous strides. He’s been in all the right spots with Laughty and I and, yeah, it was a lot of fun playing with him. So I think if he just keeps on this trajectory, then he’s going to be in good shape.”
It’s not easy to make it at Cowan’s age. Lorentz smiled while noting that he was in the ECHL when he was 20. Laughton pointed out that he was sent to the American Hockey League for more seasoning at age 22.
But Cowan, who led the London Knights to a Memorial Cup title last season, appears to be gaining momentum in his bad to earn a spot.
“He holds on to pucks,” Laughton lauded. “He’s a big competitor. He gets in on pucks, he plays simple, but you can tell he’s got a ton of skill and he uses it.”
Berube has consistently praised Cowan throughout camp. So, what does Cowan have to do to make the team?
“That’s a good question,” the coach said. “I can’t answer that question. That’s a hypothetical question. I’d be putting him in a bad spot, us in a bad spot, everybody in a bad spot by saying what he has to do to make the team.
“Just keep playing right now. We’ll make decisions with time.”
Thursday is the third of six pre-season games for the Leafs.
Berube lauds Cowan, but can’t answer what he has to do to make the team Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube lauds Easton Cowan’s compete level at camp so far, but can’t answer what the young forward has to do to make the team.
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Laughton and Lorentz, who started playing on the same line at the end of last season, were rivals in the Ontario Hockey League once upon a time.
“Him and I got very close,” said Lorentz, who played for the Peterborough Petes from 2013 to 2017. “We’ve come a long way from the junior days where I really didn’t like the guy. You know, he kind of lit us up in Oshawa when I was in Peterborough quite a bit. It’s been a 180 since then.”
What didn’t Lorentz like about Lorentz, in particular, back in the OHL days?
“His face, honestly,” Lorentz said with a smile. “He’s got that mean, nasty look on his face, and he plays with an edge.”
Laughton sees a more straightforward answer for the disdain.
“Well, it’s because we only lost to him once in my four years in Oshawa,” said Laughton, who suited up for the Generals between 2010 and 2014. “That’s probably why. They had a good, a decent team, I’ll say. They were decent, but it was a big rivalry in junior, right? We saw him eight times a year, and we’d see him all the time. So it’s pretty cool to be playing with him, and he’s obviously from around this area so to get to know him and how good of a guy he is off the ice, it’s nice.”
Laughton and Lorentz have also been taking reps together shorthanded.
Laughton mustered just two goals and two assists in 20 regular-season games with the Leafs before chipping in two assists during 13 playoff games. Lorentz posted a career high 19 points in 80 games last season, but was limited to two assists in the playoffs.
“We need to add a little bit of offence for our group and continue to build our game in the offensive zone,” said Laughton. “I think we spent a lot of time in the offensive zone. We got to create something off of it.”
Berube believes Cowan can help in that department.
Laughton and Lorentz both had breakaway chances early in Game 7 against the Florida Panthers last spring, but couldn’t solve Sergei Bobrovsky.
From rivals to buddies, Lorentz jokes he didn’t like Laughton’s face in OHL days Maple Leafs forwards Steven Lorentz and Scott Laughton discuss going from rivals to buddies, and Lorentz jokes why he didn’t like his face in their OHL days. Lorentz and Laughton also discuss their growing chemistry with one another on the ice.
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After playing 200 games for the Canadiens over the last four seasons, winger Michael Pezzetta will return to Montreal on Thursday as a member of the Leafs.
“It’ll definitely be fun,” the 27-year-old said. “Spent a lot of time there and definitely be some emotions, but it’ll definitely be fun going back in that building and playing a hard game on the other side.”
Pezzetta spent part of Wednesday texting some old friends to see who may be in the Canadiens lineup. The Toronto native’s favourite memory of playing in the Leafs-Canadiens rivalry actually came in a pre-season game back on Sept. 27, 2021.
“It was my first pre-season game in Montreal,” recalled Pezzetta, who was a sixth-round pick in 2016.
“It was like five years after I got drafted there, and I finally got my first pre-season game, and I scored two goals. I just remember how cool that was, and I remember them talking about it on the panel and being like, ‘Ah, it’s a cool experience for this kid, but he’s probably, like, never going to make it, but, like, it was a cool experience for him to get those two goals,’ and I ended up making it later that year, so I just remember that. It was funny.”
Is Pezzetta hoping the TSN panel will be talking about him again on Thursday?
“I mean, as long as it’s good things, yeah,” he said with a smile.
Pezzetta, who plays a gritty style, is already sporting a black eye courtesy a play in Sunday’s exhibition opener in Ottawa.
“The guy kind of, like, reverse hit me, but he pretty much just punched me in the face and just split my eye open, and, yeah, just hockey,” Pezzetta said with a grin. “I sent a picture of all my buddies after, I’m like, ‘Hockey season has started,’ so it’s good.”
Pezzetta on switching sides in Leafs-Habs rivalry: ‘It will be fun going back in that building’ Michael Pezzetta discusses switching sides in the Maple Leafs-Canadiens rivalry and how excited he is to face his former teammates tonight at the Bell Centre. Pezzetta also shares his favourite memory from his time in Montreal.
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Lines at Leafs skate:
Lorentz – Laughton – Cowan
McMann – Kampf – Maccelli
Joshua – Quillan – Lettieri
Pezzetta – Groulx – Tverberg
Mermis – Myers
Rifai – Thrun
Webber – Benning
Villeneuve
Hildeby starts
Peksa
Lines at Leafs practice:
Knies – Matthews – Domi
Robertson – Tavares – Jarnkrok
Barboloni – Roy – Valis
Boyd – Haymes – A. Nylander
McCabe – Tanev
Rielly – Carlo
Ekman-Larsson – Danford
Smith – Prokop
Stolarz
Akhtyamov
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