Kerfoot eager to learn from veteran linemates Spezza, Thornton

TORONTO — School is now in session for Alex Kerfoot. And the lesson plan is a dream come true. 
 
The Maple Leafs’ forward has recently been moved back to centre to play on a line between veterans Joe Thornton and Jason Spezza. It’s an assignment the 26-year-old Kerfoot would never have predicted, and he's determined to be a good student.
 
“If I was a kid thinking I'd ever play on a line with Joe Thornton and Jason Spezza, I don't think I'd have believed myself,” Kerfoot said on Thursday, ahead of Toronto’s game against Ottawa. “Those are two guys that I grew up watching, and now I’m just learning from them. Like [when] Jumbo took both [me and Spezza] and ran us through a couple drills that I had never really done before. I've never had a line just get together and do our own little drills, but Jumbo wanted us all to be on the same page so that when we get into a game, we're comfortable with each other.”
 
Kerfoot is unquestionably happy in this new trio. Coach Sheldon Keefe put them together for the first time last Saturday against Calgary. At the time, Toronto had lost three straight games and Keefe wanted to give his lineup a shot in the arm. 
 
So Keefe moved Wayne Simmonds to play with Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, and put Zach Hyman with Pierre Engvall and Ilya Mikheyev. That left Kerfoot with two players who were well into their pro careers before he’d finished first grade. 
 
It’s the longevity of his linemates that Kerfoot finds especially inspiring. Thornton, 41, debuted for the Boston Bruins back in 1997 and Spezza, 37, started with the Ottawa Senators in 2002. Combined, they’ve played in 2,810 regular-season NHL games, and collected 2,479 points. And yet their passion for hockey, and continuing to excel at a high level, is unmatched. ​
 
“You see Jumbo, he doesn't take any days off,” Kerfoot said. “Same with Spezz. They're always in the gym, trying to do something to get a little bit better on the ice. They're always staying after, working on things.”
 
And in Kerfoot the old guard has an eager pupil. Neither Spezza or Thornton is the sort to sit down and give a lecture, but Kerfoot closely watches how they go about their business. 
 
“With their habits, it's no accident they've been so successful, and they've been able to play for so long,” Kerfoot said. “I’ve learned a lot from them off the ice, and then playing with them on the ice. They like to be consistent, they like to play the same type of way, and they want you to know where they're going to be at on the ice. I’ve learned some of their tendencies, where to be looking for them, and how to read and react away from them.”
 
That’s particularly helpful in the defensive zone. Kerfoot said that since all three skaters have experience at centre and on the wing, it’s easier to play off one another and establish positioning.
 
On the offensive side, their line was able to generate the game’s opening goal in Toronto’s 2-0 win Saturday over the Flames, a Spezza strike aided by Jake Muzzin’s work holding the puck in at the point. 
 
Spezza would be the only one from his line on the scoresheet that night, but Keefe saw plenty of positives that supported his instinct to try them together. 
 
“In terms of the intelligence that those [veteran] guys have, the experience they have to go with, and the speed and the legs and the defensive abilities that Kerf brings to that line, there’s a lot of really good things there,” Keefe said. “I've really liked the way that Joe and Spezza communicate and talk and how they want to succeed together. Having two guys that I'm sure have a great admiration for each other and their careers playing together, you can see that excitement around it.”
 
According to Kerfoot, there’s practically no end to the conversation with Thornton and Spezza. 
 
“There's no second-guessing anything with them,” Kerfoot said. “Every time you get back to the bench, if you're in the locker room, they're always talking. They know what they want out of you, they let you know right away. When you play on their line, you have fun, you want to play well for them and for yourself.”
 
Toronto will need energy from all its forward lines in order to get past Ottawa on Thursday. The Leafs haven’t won consecutive games since a four-game win streak from Feb. 24 - March 3, and hold just a 3-2-1 record against the Senators this season.
 
So, regardless of the fact Toronto is atop the North Division and Ottawa at the bottom, there is no easy path to victory in the nation’s capital. 
 
“They're playing well,” Kerfoot said of the Senators and their current two-game winning streak. “We know that, and they've played us really hard throughout this year. They've got our full attention. We know we have to be at our best to beat them tonight.”