Leafs GM Treliving looks to separate fact from fiction as deadline looms

The Maple Leafs practised at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Pittsburgh on Saturday. 

Brad Treliving was asked if he feels compelled to make a bigger splash ahead of the NHL trade deadline because of how wide open the Eastern Conference playoff field appears to be this year. 

"I don't look at it that way," the Maple Leafs general manager said during a Saturday afternoon media session. "The East has got the reigning Stanley Cup champions. It's got good teams."

The Florida Panthers, who acquired defenceman Seth Jones on Saturday night, lead the Leafs by one point in the Atlantic Division standings although the defending champions have played two more games. The Tampa Bay Lightning have won eight straight games and sit just two points behind the Leafs.

"It's not, to me, about taking big swings," Treliving stressed. "It's where do you think you can help your team the most."

The Leafs players are doing their part to convince Treliving to add to the group before Friday's deadline. The team has won four straight games and seven of eight overall. Toronto is well positioned to make a run at finishing first in the Atlantic Division for the first time. 

It's no secret Treliving is interested in adding a centre. He's also taking a look at the defence market. 

"We went out and signed a bunch of defencemen," Treliving said of the summer additions of Chris Tanev, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Philippe Myers. "I don't think you can ever have too many."

Right-shot defenceman Jani Hakanpaa, another summer signing, has played only two games with the Leafs this season due to a nagging knee issue and isn't practising with the team right now. 

It won't be easy for Treliving to make a significant move. The Leafs have limited cap space and limited assets after years of buying. And Treliving isn't so sure a big move would actually be worth it. 

"Historically, look back and these attention-grabbing deadline deals, how many have really paid dividends?" he mused. "Sometimes moving the needle is a small [move]. Maybe it's not the sexy headline-grabbing move, but where are areas that you can shore up."

During his first trade deadline in Toronto, Treliving acquired defencemen Joel Edmundson and Ilya Lyubushkin as well as forward Connor Dewar, but it wasn't enough to help the team get by the Boston Bruins in a hard-fought seven-game series. 

The issue right now, Treliving notes, is the lack of sellers and the high prices being set from those who are open for business. 

"You got to determine fact from fiction, what players are actually available," the 55-year-old said. "You look around, there's still lots of teams in the race. I would say in comparison to years past, it's a little bit slower just because I think there's a lot more teams that maybe haven't declared yet." 

The bottom line? 

"I like our team," Treliving said. "I'd like to see if we can make it better by Friday than it is today."

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Is Treliving hoping to sign some of his players on expiring contracts to extensions prior to the deadline? 

"That might be a gentle way of saying, 'Any contract updates?'" Treliving quipped with a smile. 

Star winger Mitch Marner and centre John Tavares are due to become unrestricted free agents on July 1. Top-line winger Matthew Knies is a pending restricted free agent. 

"Yeah, hey, you'd like to always have certainty," Treliving acknowledged. "You always like to get things done. But, at present, they're not. We'll see where those go."

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The Leafs will be making an addition to their forward group soon without making a trade. Calle Jarnkrok is close to returning to the lineup. He hasn't played since undergoing sports hernia and groin surgery in October. 

"I feel great out there," Jarnkrok said following Saturday's practice. "I'm just waiting for the last medical clearance here. I don't know if it will be tomorrow, the next day, or the day after that, but I'm really close."

Craig Berube labels Jarnkrok as "a possibility" for Sunday's game in Pittsburgh. 

"He's moving really well," the Leafs head coach observed. "He's got a ton of energy. For me, he's ready to go, like, it's just decision time for him and the doctors."

With Max Domi absent from practice for maintenance, Jarnkrok skated as the third-line centre between Bobby McMann and Nick Robertson. He also took reps with the second power-play unit. 

"He's a Swiss Army knife," Berube said. "You can use him almost anywhere. He complements good hockey players. Skilled players, he does all the little things for those guys, you know, net front, getting pucks out of the corner."

Jarnkrok produced 10 goals and 11 assists in 52 games last season. The 33-year-old Swede last suited up in a pre-season game on Oct. 3. 

"It's been a long season for me," he said. "Right now I'm just happy to be with the guys and be able to practise with the boys and be on the road. Yeah, it's getting close and it's going to be a lot of fun to play."

Jarnkrok admits it's been a grind mentally this year, but he's tried to put the time off to good use. He's done plenty of solo sessions with Leafs skating consultant Paul Matheson.

"I've been able to work on my skating with Paul a lot, which I think will help me in the long run," He said. "Just kind of my technique, I work pretty hard when I skate and we made it easier on myself so it doesn't look so hard."

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Joseph Woll missed a scheduled start on Friday in New York due to an illness. 

"It was just a quick 24-hour bug so all good," he said after Saturday's practice. 

There isn't enough room on the visiting bench at Madison Square Garden for the back-up goalie so Woll watched Friday's game from the Zamboni entrance. 

"It's weird when you're not on the bench," he said. "You feel half like a fan, like, just kind of sitting there and you're not too involved in the game. But I guess from a hockey perspective you can kind of sit back and watch, but it is a bit weird not being as engaged."

Woll will get the start on Sunday. He relishes the chance to go up against Penguins centre Sidney Crosby. 

"Any time you play against someone you grew up watching and idolizing a bit, even though I was a goalie, it's pretty awesome," the 26-year-old Missouri native said. 

Woll is 0-2-0 in his career against Crosby and the Penguins, including a loss earlier this season at PPG Paints Arena. Crosby picked up an assist in that game. 

"He just has the ability to kind of do everything," said Woll. "He's one of the most complete players probably that's ever played the game. He's dangerous wherever he's at, whether he's shooting the puck or he's passing the puck or anything."

Woll is putting in extra work to be ready. He was the last player on the ice at Saturday's practice. 

"When I'm going to the post and the post position I'm working on keeping certain muscles engaged to take pressure off other areas," he revealed. "It helps my posture and helps everything be more smooth. Very focused on getting things to become like muscle memory." 

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Woll played well in his first start out of the 4 Nations Face-Off break, stopping 25 of 27 shots to earn a win in Chicago on Sunday. 

Since then, Anthony Stolarz has picked up wins in Boston and New York. On Friday, he was the first star at Madison Square Garden where he stopped 33 of 35 shots. 

"He was on fire," raved winger William Nylander. "That's why we won." 

"Stollie just stood on his head the whole game," Knies gushed. 

Stolarz now leads the NHL in save percentage (minimum 20 games) with a .927 mark. He uses his 6-foot-6 frame and a booming voice to influence the game.

"He's vocal back there," said defenceman Jake McCabe. "He's loud. He talks really well. You know, both goalies, Joe's been doing a great job of that, too ... Can't say enough good things about our goaltenders. It's good s—t."

Stolarz has always been talkative, but he learned to use his voice more during last year's championship run in Florida. 

"You always want to motivate the guys," said Stolarz, who served as the understudy to Sergei Bobrovsky last year.

Stolarz tried to light a fire under his teammates on Friday night.  

"He definitely gives it to us when we're not working hard and rightfully so," said Knies. "There were times where we weren't moving our feet, we weren't helping him out, so we need that feedback."

Although most of the talk from Stolarz comes during play and is focused on what's happening on the ice and how to get the team breaking out more efficiently. 

"It's something I've tried to learn from," Woll said. "He's really good at just talking ... You can help our defencemen by just using your voice whenever you can. So, it's something I'm trying to do a better job of and, yeah, it's something he's really good at."

Stolarz has won all four of his starts since returning from a knee injury right before the 4 Nations Face-Off. 

Woll has started two games since Stolarz returned and each time, in Vancouver and Chicago, the visiting bench was too small for the back-up goalie. So, Woll is looking forward to having Stolarz's voice in his ear throughout Sunday's matinee in Pittsburgh. 

"It just helps keep it light," Woll said. "It's easy to get too serious and too locked in so sometimes it's good to have a little comic relief or someone to help keep it light. He's just a good dude so I like having him out there."

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Marner will be facing Crosby for the first time since they played together for Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off. What will the Leafs winger remember most about spending time around his childhood idol in that environment? 

"Just how locked in and dialed he is about everything," Marner said. "It was really cool to be his teammate."

Crosby set up Marner's overtime winner in the opening game against Sweden, but also made a big impact on the 27-year-old off the ice. Marner praised the 37-year-old Penguins captain for spending so much quality time with teammates.  

"It doesn't matter what line or where you're from, he takes time out of his day and hangs around and talks," Marner. "We had a couple team dinners that he was very generous with. Yeah, just his generosity [stands out]."

Marner set up Canada's clinching goal in overtime of the championship game by taking a puck off his skate seamlessly before feeding Connor McDavid in the slot. 

During Tuesday's game against the Boston Bruins back at TD Garden, Marner showed off more fancy footwork to set up a 2-on-1 with Tavares in overtime. 

"I do that in the summertime every once in a while," Marner said. "I didn't really see a passing lane to John on my backhand side so I just tried to get creative with it and get it over to him and try to get some space to possibly get it back. He made a great play back and it just kind of bounced on me at the last second there."

Marner scored the winning goal a few minutes later.

How much does Marner work on kick plays in the summer? 

"A lot," he said. "It's a big emphasis for me and my trainer. You never know what's going to happen in hockey games. Pucks take weird bounces, go weird places, and it's not always going to be on your tape so you gotta be able to react when it comes to your feet and your skates."

While he didn't play it as much as hockey or even lacrosse, Marner did play soccer in school growing up. He proudly declares that he and defenceman Morgan Rielly are the best players on the team during the warm-up soccer game known as sewer ball. 

"Mo and me," he said. "That's it."

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Marner made a nice play on the forecheck to set up Toronto's winning goal on Friday night. 

"I know [Igor] Shesterkin can play the puck real well," he said. "I got close to him and I knew he was trying to shoot it. I could hear the D-man yelling to rim it so I just tried to get to the glass as quickly as I can and jump up. Lucky enough it hit me."

The puck fell to Auston Matthews, who found Knies alone in front.  

Despite all the wins of late, Marner is quick to highlight the need for the Leafs to improve. 

"We're keeping it light, but at the same time we know we haven't played our best hockey still," Marner said. "We know we got better. We gotta be better."

In particular, Marner thinks the team has been starting slow in recent games. 

"Our starts have been a little weak," the alternate captain said. "Our seconds and thirds have been a lot better than our firsts."

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Berube described Friday's performance as "lacklustre" and didn't feel the team did a good enough job forechecking. 

The coach is also looking for a better effort from the power play. Toronto did score on its first chance on Friday, but that goal came from the second unit, which also surrendered a shorthanded goal in the third period. 

During Friday's game the Leafs moved away from the five-forward look on the top unit with Rielly taking over as the quarterback and Marner moving down low in the zone. Knies was bumped to the second unit. 

"We have to work harder on our power play," Berube said. "We are not competing hard enough. We are not digging in. On the power play, it is not just about making plays. You have to do other things, too, to make it successful."

At Saturday's practice, the five-forward alignment was back on the top unit. Berube designed the special teams work at practice to create more urgency. 

"The puck moves faster than they do," he said. "Just move the puck. Give it to the open guy. A little more quicker puck movement, resetting, and just being a little more direct. We tried to get some of that in practice today with how we structured our power play today, with how we killed it, just getting them to move the puck quicker so hopefully that triggers them for tomorrow."

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Toronto's depth on the blue line is being tested right now with Tanev currently sidelined by an upper-body injury. The 35-year-old missed Friday's game in New York and did not take part in Saturday's practice. 

"Feeling better today so that's great news," Berube said. "He's feeling better. We have to see how he heals up here in the next couple days." 

Tanev will remain sidelined at least through Sunday's game against the Penguins and Monday's home date with the San Jose Sharks.  

Berube refused to use Tanev's absence as an excuse for Friday's performance. 

"I thought our 'D' were good," he said. "They battled hard. We talked about getting pucks going north from our zone. They rimmed a lot of pucks — I get it — but that is what we asked them to do. They defended the front of our net pretty well. For me, they were pretty solid. Without Tanev, our PK did a good job. I was pleased with our defence."

In his first game since Feb. 8, Myers replaced Tanev on the shutdown pairing with McCabe. That duo finished the night plus-two. 

"Mysey did a great job stepping in," McCabe said. "I enjoyed playing with him. Tanney, you know, any team that misses a guy like that, steady presence, his commitment to the game, blocking shots, obviously, and just his steady play and steady presence, I think, is felt in the room and on the ice. But the guys doing a great job of stepping up in his absence."

Toronto's depth may be further tested in Pittsburgh. Ekman-Larsson left Friday's game early with an undisclosed issue and sat out Saturday's practice. Berube insisted it was "more a maintenance" issue than anything. 

If Ekman-Larsson is unable to suit up, Marshall Rifai will draw in and play his third NHL game. 

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Leafs lines at Saturday's practice: 

Knies - Matthews - Marner
Holmberg - Tavares - Nylander
McMann - Jarnkrok - Robertson
Pacioretty - Kampf - Reaves
Steeves, Dewar 

Rielly - Myers 
Benoit - McCabe 
Rifai - Timmins 

Woll
Stolarz 

Leafs power play units at Saturday's practice:

QB: Marner
Flanks: Matthews, Nylander
Middle: Tavares
Net front: Knies

QB: Rielly 
Flanks: Holmberg, Robertson
Middle: McMann 
Net front: Jarnkrok

Rakell - Crosby - Rust 
Beauvillier - Malkin - Glass
Heinen - Hayes - Tomasino
Bemstrom - Lizotte - Acciari 

Joseph - Letang 
Grzelcyk - Karlsson 
Shea - Desharnais 

Nedeljkovic starts 
Blomqvist