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TSN Toronto Maple Leafs Reporter

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TSN Toronto reporter Kristen Shilton checks in daily with news and notes on the Maple Leafs. The team held an 11 a.m. meeting at Bell MTS Centre on Thursday ahead of facing the Winnipeg Jets at 7 p.m. CT

Injuries are an unpredictable and unwelcome reality of sport, but for Maple Leafs’ head coach Sheldon Keefe, they’re also an opportunity to explore the organization’s depth.

Since losing top-nine forwards Andreas Johnsson (leg) and Ilya Mikheyev (wrist ligament damage) in the last month, Keefe has been experimenting with a number of forwards recalled from the AHL Toronto Marlies, including Pontus Aberg and Adam Brooks.

Whether Toronto is winning or losing doesn’t deter Keefe from making changes, either. The Leafs have won seven of their last eight games ahead of Thursday’s tilt, but Keefe will continue testing new faces when he inserts Mason Marchment into the lineup at Winnipeg to make his NHL debut.

“We felt for a long time with the Marlies that there would be a lot of guys that would have a chance to play and compete for jobs,” Keefe said Tuesday. “I think this year at training camp there were a number of guys, not just those that have been in the organization but those that were added in the summertime, [who could come up]. Injuries are an unfortunate but inevitable thing and what it does do is create an opportunity to get looks at different people and just see what they might be able to provide.”

Marchment will replace fellow rookie Dmytro Timashov on Toronto’s fourth line against the Jets. The organization has been pleased to find out just how many of its minor leaguers were ready to make the NHL jump this season – through the first half of this year alone, the Leafs lost 87 man-games to injury, and it could be weeks before Johnsson is ready to return, plus much longer after that for Mikheyev to get back.

“We're fortunate to have that team depth,” said Zach Hyman. “This year has been, since I've been here, the most we've been plagued with injuries. So, the ability to have guys step up and seize the opportunity has been huge for us and just having that ‘next-man-up’ mentality, especially knowing when we have that many injuries. It’s been great seeing guys come up from the Marlies and have success. That really helps.”

Despite the difficulties they've faced in the injury department – including with the loss of top defenceman Jake Muzzin to a broken foot – the Leafs aren't feeling sorry for themselves.

“All teams around the league deal with this type of stuff and it's just a matter of keeping going,” said Morgan Rielly. “Keep the course; that stuff is going to happen. We've had times in the past where we've been very healthy. It comes and goes but it's just a matter of hard work and we've got guys that can fill those roles, so it's important to keep going.”

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When most players are preparing to make their NHL debut, they credit a family member or a youth coach who helped guide them to the precipice. But Marchment had a different kind of acknowledgment to make before playing his first NHL game on Tuesday, one to Leafs’ skating consultant Barb Underhill.

“I don't think I would be here today without Barb,” Marchment revealed. “So really kudos to her.”

And what did Underhill provide that was so crucial?

“She taught me how to skate.”

That admission alone helps encompass the arduous journey Marchment took just to reach the pro hockey level. After going undrafted, Marchment was signed to an amateur tryout by the Marlies in April 2016, and spent the next two seasons between the Marlies and the ECHL’s Orlando Solar Bears, all the while focusing on his development.

It was a calculated move by Keefe, then the Marlies head coach, to keep Marchment zeroed in on improving outside of game action while limiting him to only nine AHL games in 2016-17.

“When you're in player development, playing games is not always the best thing,” Keefe said. “Everybody wants to play games and that's what they do and they get comfortable with that, but it doesn't mean that's what's right for each player. Some players need the game reps and they need the experience and other players don't have a chance unless they can get stronger or work on their skills.”

The alternative for Keefe was to identify early on what Marchment needed to eventually excel, and provide it.

“He's come very far, and it's not just his skating in terms of speed, but it's also just balance and agility, all those types of things," Keefe said. "There has been a lot of work that he's done. He didn't play much hockey at all in his first year, so it was more time spent in the gym and with the development coaches. That's sort of the foundation that was built for him and then he just took off from there."

Marchment steadily improved until the Leafs signed him to a two-year, entry-level contract in 2018. But injuries caught up to Marchment in the form of two shoulder surgeries within the last calendar year, the most recent of which happened during this year’s training camp.

The 24-year-old skated in just 11 games for the Marlies this season, with two goals and two assists, before being recalled.

“I was pretty disappointed after that [shoulder injury],” Marchment admitted. “But this is honestly a dream come true. I couldn't be happier. I skate with a lot of the Leafs guys in the summers, and especially with Sheldon up here I feel that I can come in and be pretty comfortable. But obviously it's a different game up here, so we'll see what happens.”

Keefe said he told Marchment there was no reason to change his game for the NHL level and to just be himself. That’s advice similar to what Marchment’s father, former Leafs’ defenceman Bryan Marchment, has been sharing for years.

“[He says] just have fun and work hard,” Marchment said. “So just keep [my game] simple and play hard.”

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There was a lot for the Leafs to like about how they ended 2019, beating the Minnesota Wild 4-1 and allowing just 27 shots. Limiting the number of pucks put on their goaltenders hasn’t been easy for the Leafs of late, and when it happens, it’s usually because other things within the game are going right for Toronto.

“I don't think we target any sort of number in terms of shots or anything like that,” Keefe said. “In the Minnesota game, we went into it thinking they're a team that shoots the puck from the point a lot and were probably going to get a lot of shots because of that; they get the puck to the net a lot. This team will do the same in Winnipeg. But we liked the fact that we scored fairly early in the [Minnesota] game. And once we got a lead we didn't give them a whole lot. It was a good game for us in that sense.”

Projected lines for Maple Leafs vs. Jets

Forwards

Hyman-Matthews-Marner
Kerfoot-Tavares-Nylander
Engvall-Spezza-Kapanen
Marchment-Brooks-Gauthier

Defence

Rielly-Barrie
Marincin-Holl
Dermott-Ceci

Goalies

Andersen starts
Hutchinson