Cooper raves about Marner's 'confidence and swag' ahead of Canada roster reveal
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The Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning held optional skates at Amalie Arena in Tampa on Saturday.
Jon Cooper coached Leafs winger Mitch Marner at the 2017 World Championship. He's anticipating the chance to do it again in February at the 4 Nations Face-off.
"I'm a massive Mitch Marner fan," the Tampa Bay Lightning coach stated proudly.
Marner produced 12 points in 10 games to help Team Canada take home a silver medal at the 2017 Worlds. Back then Marner was just starting out in the NHL. Now, he's a superstar.
Cooper will run Canada's bench when best-on-best hockey returns. What difference does he see in Marner?
"Probably confidence and swag," the two-time Stanley Cup champion coach said. "He's always had it, but you see it in how he plays. Being able to coach him in 2017, he's always had it, but he's let it out a little bit more. But in a good way. He's not showing off. He does everything with a purpose, and he thinks the game. It's amazing how he thinks it. It's elite."
With top-line centre Auston Matthews out the last nine games with an undisclosed upper-body issue, Marner led the Leafs with seven goals and eight assists. He's been earning praise all across the Sunshine State during this two-game trip.
"I don't know if you're going to slow him down per se," said Florida Panthers defenceman Aaron Ekblad ahead of Wednesday's game. "His skating is so high level. You see the way, even on the penalty kill, that he skates backwards, as a forward, that's pretty incredible. You don't see that a lot. His ability on his edges to make plays and get away from you is elite, high level. Limiting his time and space maybe before he gets the puck is something we'll look at."
The Panthers did a decent job containing Marner during a 5-1 win, but the dynamic winger still fired three shots on net and produced a power-play goal.
Marner leads the Leafs with 29 points in 22 games. He's on pace for 109 points, which would be a career high.
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Most of Marner's production lately has come on the power play. He has nine power-play points in the last nine games.
"We're moving the puck very well," Marner said earlier this week. "We're getting pucks around the net. We've done a good job of retrieving pucks back and not just forcing stuff in and actually just calming it down and then making another play and then resetting ... I think we've done a good job of hitting the net as well and creating rebounds."
Toronto ranked second in the NHL in power-play percentage without Matthews going 32.4 per cent (11/34).
With Matthews returning to the lineup on Saturday, Marner will move from the flank to the quarterback spot in a five-forward alignment. Matthew Knies is also returning from injury on Saturday and will move back into the net-front spot with the top unit.
"Just keep attacking and moving it quick, and getting the puck into that [net] area," Leafs coach Craig Berube urged. "We're converging to the net with shots and we got to keep doing that and keep moving it. Move it quick. Move it quick. That's the key."
The Leafs clicked at just 10 per cent on the power play with Matthews in the lineup through 13 games to start the season, which ranked 31st overall. Teammates and opponents seemed to be focused on Matthews, which slowed down the puck movement. '
The team did score on the power play in Matthews' last game on Nov. 3 when they debuted the five-forward look, with Knies in front, against the Minnesota Wild. Knies has been studying video of Edmonton Oilers winger Zach Hyman to help refine his net-front game.
"He's looking at some of that stuff, what Hyman does, and things like that," said Berube. "He's that type of guy, and we love his size [6-foot-3, 227 pounds] and strength there too. Big body and he has a good stick, tipping pucks in and stuff like that. He's only going to get better over time."
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Matthews led the Leafs with 18 power-play goals last year. He only has one this season, but it came against the Lightning last month.
"He's missed a bit," Cooper noted with a small smile. "So, hopefully he's rusty. That's all I can ask. You talk about gifted players and ability to take over a game, he's one of those kids."
This has been the longest injury absence for Matthews since early in the 2018-19 season.
"You kind of wish he was coming back the next game," Cooper said. "But part of me is always like, I like seeing these guys play, and if you're going to have a chance to beat the Leafs you might as well beat the Leafs when they have their best lineup in and not try and take a freebie. You always want to see him. I'm glad he's back. He's good for this league."
The Leafs have been playing without seven regular forwards so the return of Matthews and Knies is expected to provide a spark. However, teammates are guarding against a letdown.
"Pretty status quo, honestly," said defenceman Jake McCabe of the feeling around the team. "Obviously we're excited to get some bodies back, but the guys that have stepped in have done a tremendous job."
The Leafs won seven of nine games without Matthews.
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Playing for the first time since Nov. 16, Anthony Stolarz took the loss on Wednesday in Florida. It will be Joseph Woll who gets the start on Saturday.
"The schedule is tough right now because [there's] so many days between games and stuff like that," Berube said. "It's hard to keep them busy, but we want to keep them both going."
The Leafs just wrapped up a stretch which saw them play just four times in 16 days.
Woll has won four straight starts, including Sunday's outing against Utah.
The Lightning earned an overtime win in Nashville on Friday afternoon. Jonas Johansson picked up the win. Matt Tomkins was called up and dressed as the backup goalie. Andrei Vasilevskiy remained in Tampa and rested up for Saturday's start.
"We've never been able to do that [before], because we've never had the cap [space] or roster room to be able to do it," said Cooper with a grin.
"What if the goalie gets hurt in the first period and now you're forced to put him in and I just didn't want to be in that situation."
Vasilevskiy allowed four goals on 14 shots in Toronto last month and was pulled in the second period. The Lightning lost 5-2 that night.
"He plays 60-plus games a year," Cooper stressed. "I don't care if you're Vasilevskiy or go through the top 10 goalies in this league, guys have off nights. The difference between the good ones and the great ones are the great ones don't have many off nights. That's been a staple of Vasilevskiy's career."
Vasilevskiy matched a season high by allowing five goals in his last start against the Washington Capitals on Wednesday.
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Among the call-ups making a positive impression for the Leafs of late is rookie centre Fraser Minten. He played over 15 minutes in Wednesday's loss to the Panthers.
"It was nice to feel a little bit of adversity out there and some struggle," said the 20-year-old, who finished the night minus-two. "It was tough to get stuff going against them. It's kind of the way things go throughout the season."
Minten played four games with the Leafs last season. His last game last year was in Florida. He played just eight minutes and 47 seconds against the Panthers that night before being sent back to the Western Hockey League. This time around, the 2022 second-round pick seemed more comfortable in the south Florida heat.
In fact, Minten nearly scored his second career NHL goal, but rang a shot off the post after being fed by Nikita Grebenkin in the slot.
"It was a good pass," Minten said. "At this level you really got to jump to holes and make them appear otherwise there's just guys around you and he made a great pass to an open spot there and got a shot off but just missed."
Minten smiled.
"It happens a lot."
Berube wants to see more quick decisions like that from Minten, who was called up after just five games in the American Hockey League.
"He has a lot of room for growth," the coach said. "He is a young kid who hasn't had much experience in the NHL and didn't really get much playing time in the minors before he was called up because we needed him. He just has to keep working on his game and reading the play better. At the NHL level, it is quick. You have to anticipate. He is a very positionally-sound player. It takes time. It's not just going to happen overnight."
Minten is preparing for his fourth game with the Leafs this season. He's still in awe of the lifestyle in the world's best league.
"I hope I never get used to it," he said, "because it's definitely nothing that's normal. It's pretty special. It's cool. It's something that I'll try not to take for granted ever. It's pretty unreal."
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What does McCabe remember about his first NHL game?
"It was a blur," he said. "It was in St. Louis. That whole game was a blur. I remember cramping up in the third period and now here we are 599 games later."
McCabe will mark milestone game No. 600 on Saturday. His mentality is the same as it was when he made his debut on April 3, 2014.
"Appreciate where I am and just keep working on getting better," the 31-year-old said. "Kind of had that mentality my whole career. [It] was able to get me in this league and keep me in it as long as I've been in here and it's going to carry me on through the rest of my career too."
McCabe's no-nonsense approach on and off the ice has endeared him to Berube.
"Played a lot of games and played it a hard way," the coach said. "He's a physical guy, plays a gritty game night in and night out. He doesn't take a night off. It's a lot of games to play that way."
McCabe leads the Leafs defence with 50 hits. He's second in blocked shots (46) behind only partner Chris Tanev (73). That duo is matched up against top lines each night.
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Cooper initially didn't seem interested in talking about the 4 Nations Face-off on Saturday.
"I gotta do a big press conference on Hockey Canada stuff in like a week and this is not the press conference for Hockey Canada," he said.
So, no roster reveal?
"Ah, let's do it!" he said to laughs.
Rosters are due in by Monday.
"If this was a horse race, it would be a photo finish," Team Canada's coach said. "That close."
Marner is a lock. A couple Lightning stars – linemates Anthony Cirelli and Brandon Hagel – also look like good bets.
"They've really played well for us this year," Cooper said. "Whether it's power play, penalty kill, 5-on-5, trying to protect the lead, trying to get the lead, every aspect of the game, those two guys have really stirred the drink for us for the entire year. And it's not to take away from anybody else, but you ask anyone in the locker room and those two guys have been really good for us."
Hagel is second on the Lightning in scoring with 27 points behind only Nikita Kucherov. Shutdown centre Cirelli, who leads the team at plus-12, isn't far behind with 23 points.
The rosters for Canada, the United States, Sweden and Finland will all be revealed on Wednesday. Injuries will likely necessitate some lineup changes before the tournament starts on Feb. 12.
"I bet you there will be 10 new players minimum," said Cooper. "If you're not named to that team, you know, stay ready because unfortunately there's probably going to be some spots open."
Each roster will be comprised of 23 NHL players (20 skaters and three goalies).
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Projected Leafs lineup for Saturday's game:
Knies - Matthews - W. Nylander
Holmberg - Tavares - Marner
Robertson - Minten - A. Nylander
Lorentz - Dewar - Grebenkin
McCabe - Tanev
Rielly - Ekman-Larsson
Benoit - Timmins
Woll starts
Stolarz