GRAVENHURST — Sheldon Keefe had a roster wrinkle up his sleeve on Wednesday in Muskoka.
As the Maple Leafs coach goes about ironing out his lineup for opening night next week, Keefe had William Nylander taking line rushes at centre, inserting the gifted winger between a couple of players, Nick Robertson and Denis Malgin, who have been terrific through the pre-season.
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Keefe cautioned against reading too much into the new look for Nylander, but acknowledged that Nylander might be at the same position in one of Leafs’ final two pre-season games against the Detroit Red Wings this weekend. That likely would be on Saturday in Toronto when the exhibition schedule concludes, as Keefe plans to use something close to his regular-season lineup at Scotiabank Arena. On Friday night in Detroit, the lineup will be less NHL-heavy and will include players on the bubble.
As for Nylander, the 26-year-old is on track for an expanded role. After putting up a career-high 80 points in 81 games in 2021-22, there remains room for Nylander to take his game a notch higher, and Keefe’s utilization of him at centre wasn’t being done for a lark. The signs point to Nylander taking on a penalty-killing role as well.
“Willie has done that before (played centre, though sparingly) and has the ability to,” Keefe said. “When you break it down, it’s sort of a placeholder for John (Tavares, who continues to work his back from an oblique issue).
“I think it’s important for Willie to get some (centre) reps through the camp.”
On Monday in Montreal in the Leafs’ victory against the Canadiens, Nylander spent nearly two minutes on the ice killing penalties. Last season, he averaged 18 seconds a game on the PK.
Keefe seeks a right-handed faceoff option when the Leafs are shorthanded, and Nylander could be that guy. Calle Jarnkrok also is a possibility.
“(Nylander) hasn’t take many (faceoffs) in the defensive zone, but we’re wanting to see if we can grow his role and usage on the penalty kill,” Keefe said. “Willie through his career has been, when called upon, a good option.”
The easy-going Nylander indicated he was open to both playing centre and going over the boards when a teammate heads to the penalty box.
“If he wants me to play centre, I’m going to play centre,” Nylander said. “I like playing centre and wing. There’s no one I prefer, really.
“If called upon (to kill penalties), I will be out there for sure. I like it.”
Using Nylander in the middle at the Centennial Centre gave Keefe a chance to try another potential trio, as he had Alex Kerfoot between Pierre Engvall and Jarnkrok. David Kampf centred Zach Aston-Reese and Nicolas Aube-Kubel, and the top line of Auston Matthews between Michael Bunting and Mitch Marner, naturally, was intact.
Engvall appears to have no troubles as he gets into game shape in his recovery from an ankle/foot injury suffered during the off-season. Keefe said “it’s starting to look that way” when asked whether he thought Engvall would be ready for the opener next Wednesday in Montreal, but tossed some caution into his answer as well.
“He has an appointment to go through later in the week that will set the table for whether he can get in a pre-season game and we’ll look to progress from there,” Keefe said. “It’s tracking well, but his injury is one that you really have to watch and be careful.”
For the northern excursion, Keefe didn’t take every player available to him. Remaining in Toronto were forwards Nick Abruzzese, Joey Anderson, Bobby McMann and Semyon Der-Arguchintsev, and defencemen William Villeneuve, Mac Hollowell, Marshall Rifai and Mikko Kokkonen. It’s probable that most if not all of those players will play in Detroit on Friday, followed by a ticket to the Toronto Marlies afterward.
A group of five players, all forwards — Wayne Simmonds, Kyle Clifford, Adam Gaudette, Pontus Holmberg and Alex Steeves — practised in grey on Wednesday, the colour reserved for extras.
“Even though we made some decisions with line combinations (on Wednesday), there’s still positions up for grabs,” Keefe said. “Guys are still competing. We’ve got two pre-season games, so a lot of things can and likely will change. That’s just the nature of it.”
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