Drew Doughty discusses playing for Mike Babcock, defending Auston Matthews and the pros/cons of playing in the Toronto market, Pierre Lebrun on the Leafs’ cozy expansion draft situation, and more in the links.
Leafs/NHL Links
Doughty: All Southern Ontario players secretly want to play in Toronto (TSN1050)
L.A. Kings defenceman Drew Doughty joined Leafs Lunch in-studio to chat about Lay’s National Smile Power Day, plus gives his thoughts on Southern Ontario-born players views on Toronto and the dynamic of contract negotiations.
On playing for Mike Babcock with Team Canada:
He was great. Obviously, when you only have the coach for two-three weeks, you don’t really know what he’s like. But, for me, he’s a very detailed coach. He expects the most out of his players. If you’re not doing the right thing, he’s going to be honest with you. You need to fix that. He’s not going to make something up and expect more out of you. He wants you to compete and play your game, but at the same time, you have to follow the system. He’s very detailed. If you’re not going to follow what he’s saying, you’re probably not going to play. That’s what a coach needs to do. I think honesty with a coach [is important]. You need a coach you can approach. He’s definitely very approachable. I know, with me, I joked around with him a lot. Maybe that’s because I’m not on his team all the time and pissing him off all the time, but he was a great coach, a very smart hockey mind. He’s great for the Leafs. I’m happy that the Leafs are doing what they’re doing now.
On the pros and cons of playing in Toronto:
I think all of us Southern Ontario players secretly want to play for the Leafs. We all have that kind of soft spot. Honestly, I hated the Leafs as a kid and always cheered against them. I was on my dad’s team and he was a Montreal Canadiens fan. But I watched every Leafs game, so secretly I loved the Leafs. I think that, yeah, we’d all like to play here, especially with the team and the way they’re getting better. But I think it always comes down to how hard it would be to live in a city being that big of a celebrity. I’m spoiled in LA, where I walk anywhere I want and not one person is going to recognize me.
If, say, for some reason, I played for the Leafs, I don’t think I could get used to that or not. I think that’s the problem with why guys don’t sign here.
On Auston Matthews:
I only played him twice last year, but I can give you a brief [scouting report]. I think he’s got some of the best hands around the net. You don’t want him to get the puck below the top of the circles because he’s going to make something happen. He’s got good hands inside tight, and he uses his body well. I’m just coming up with more and more things he does well now. He’s definitely beyond his years. He didn’t look like a rookie last year – not because he scored [40 goals], he didn’t look like a rookie shift in, shift out. He looked really good. Big body, great hands, great shot. You can’t let him get to the net. That’s the bottom line.
Lebrun: Not many teams as well set up for expansion as the Leafs (TSN1050)
TSN Hockey insider Pierre Lebrun joined Naylor & Landsberg in the Morning with guest host Steve Simmons to discuss the NHL Expansion Draft and how the Leafs may be better set up for expansion than any other team in the league.
On the Leafs’ expansion draft situation and their pursuit of a defenceman:
Not a lot of rumblings. I can’t think of a team that is less affected by the expansion draft than the Toronto Maple Leafs. As another team said to me the other day, in a year in which they win the lottery, get Auston Matthews and the sun shines on that franchise, the expansion draft impacts them the least of any team in the league.
I know the Leafs, as I reported, have shown interest in Sami Vatanen, but so have a lot of teams. It’s an interesting time for Toronto right now as they look to upgrade their blue line. There are, of course, guys available. Travis Hamonic’s name is making the rounds against out of Long Island. Carolina is a team that is really eager to upgrade their forward group in exchange for one of their young talented defencemen. I don’t know if it’s a match with Toronto. My point is, we’re always talking about how it’s difficult to upgrade your blue line because those guys are hard to get, but it’s actually a bit of a nice window right now. Teams are under the gun. We’ll see if the Leafs take advantage of that or not.
On the Senators looking to move Dion Phaneuf before the draft:
Their number one priority is to trade Phaneuf now, but he’s got four more years at $7 million AAV. Is there interest in Phaneuf? Yes, there is interest. There is probably a little more interest in Marc Methot, and then a little bit above that, lots of interest in Cody Ceci. That’s the guy the Senators least likely want to move. Those are your three pieces. They’d rather move Phaneuf and keep Methot and Ceci. Can they do it? Phaneuf has a 12-team “yes” list where he would go; maybe there’s a team outside of that list where he would waive [to go]. Here is the big question if the Phaneuf deal gets done: Would the Senators eat some of that salary? It’s not something they’ve typically done. They’re a budget team. But that would certainly facilitate a trade. I don’t know you can’t at this point if you’re really intent on moving him.
One final thought on the Ottawa situation, as crazy as it sounds: What if they don’t make a trade? I think this is the least likely of the scenarios, but it’s still on the table. If they trade a defenceman this week, they still have to lose another player to Vegas in the process. It’s a double loss. You’re trading a top-4 defenceman, and then you’re losing a forward to Vegas. You have to sit down if you’re Pierre Dorion and make sure that if you’re trading X defenceman and moving Y forward, it’s worth the asset you’re trading that defenceman for.
Every team is going through this. The Minnesota Wild has to decide, if they trade Brodin and lose Dumba to Vegas, does that make sense that they just lost two of their top-5 defencemen?
On the lack of player movement so far:
We believe Anaheim has some sort of arrangement with Vegas already, but it hasn’t quite leaked out yet to the extent that we’re used to, in part because the GMs had a conference call Tuesday with Bill Daly in which it was stressed by the league to teams that are making some of these advanced deals with Vegas not to announce them – to the point where I heard one GM say yesterday that because these aren’t actual deals that are registered with the central registry right now, you don’t have to tell the players involved yet either.
There are two facets to this. From the league perspective, it’s about making next Wednesday a big show; a big reveal. From the Vegas perspective – a couple of weeks ago when I sat down with George McPhee for an interview for Sportscentre, he thought he’d have a few deals to announce the week after. I think they’ve since changed their mind for a couple of reasons: They didn’t want to take the limelight away from the Cup final for a while, and then they decided, “Why are we showing our hand by announcing these deals? Why not have the other teams guessing until the final moment?” I think Vegas wanted everything under wraps until teams have to submit their protected list.
Even then, because the protected lists are being submitted on Saturday, the three-day period where Vegas is wheeling and dealing and deciding how to flush out the 30 picks, it’s still a benefit to Vegas to have these deals in the drawer and kept secret because they’re playing teams against other teams. This is about maximizing their assets. George McPhee’s number-one priority through all of this is to accumulate as many draft picks as possible for the next few drafts. That’s the number-one priority. It trumps being as competitive as possible coming out of the gates.
I think the majority of the non-Vegas trades – the rest of the league dealing with each other, wheeling and dealing – is going to happen either at the draft in Chicago or certainly in the days leading up to July 1.
Tom Wilson’s Toronto neighbours still love him despite ousting the Leafs (RMNB)
Wilson tweeted a photo Wednesday of the party that was thrown on Saturday. While holding up a neon-colored sign with a letter on it, the neighborhood kids spelled out a heartwarming message – GREAT SEASON TOM. This isn’t the first interaction Wilson has had with local kids back home. On May 28, Wilson returned back to his former elementary school, John Ross Robertson, to sign autographs and take photos with children during the school’s popular Fun Fair.
Marner’s great response to JVR’s chirp about first pitch at Jays game (BarDown)
At the end of the day, Marner’s first pitch didn’t go down in history as one of the worst of all-time, so that’s all that matters. Plus, his response to JVR was fire, just like the emojis he used in the tweet.
Erik Karlsson gone for four months after foot surgery (Puck Daddy)
The fact that Erik Karlsson played with a damaged foot in the playoffs is remarkable. The fact that he played so well with a damaged foot that he earned a Conn Smythe vote without actually appearing in the Stanley Cup Final is extraordinary. But at some point, his bum wheel was going to have to be repaired, and that point was Wednesday, as the Ottawa Senators announced their star defenseman will miss “approximately four months” after surgery. That would put his return right around the start of the 2017-18 season.
Down Goes Brown: 10 trades involving top-10 NHL Draft picks (Sportsnet)
In one of the biggest trades in franchise history, the Maple Leafs sent their captain to the Nordiques, along with Sylvain Lefebvre, Landon Wilson and the 22nd pick. In exchange, they got Mats Sundin, Todd Warriner, Garth Butcher and the 10th pick. After what sounded suspiciously as if millions of Leafs fans in tattered Clark jerseys cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced, the Leafs flipped the pick to the Capitals for Mike Ridley. Washington used it on Nolan Baumgartner, the Leafs ended up with Eric Fichaud, and the Nordiques used the 22nd on Jeff Kealty. Clark was back in Toronto within two years, while Sundin went on to a Hall of Fame career as a Maple Leaf.
McKenzie: “Stepan’s name fairly prominent in trade chatter” (Blue Shirt Banter)
Rumors about a Stepan trade have been prevalent on social media since the Rangers were eliminated from the playoffs this year. Alain Vigneault leaned on Stepan a lot during the 2017 Playoffs, but the center was very critical of his own play and fans took notice. “I’ve been not very good with the puck,” Stepan admitted during the Ottawa series. “I’ve worked extremely hard to try to defend the right way and get myself in the right positions. But when that puck is on my stick, I have not been all that sharp with it. I don’t know why.”
Mirtle: NHL’s salary cap likely to be set at $75-million for 2017-18 (The Athletic)
This is expected to be settled by the end of the week, giving teams time to prepare for the expansion draft process. According to several sources, the most likely outcome is a salary cap figure of $75-million next season. That is only a $2-million rise from last year. It would mean that the NHLPA voted against using the full 5 per cent growth factorr.
