With the acquisition of Ryan O’Reilly from the St. Louis Blues, Toronto Maple Leafs captain John Tavares moved to the wing, a position he rarely plays but is embracing on a talent-loaded line.
BUFFALO — Toronto Maple Leafs captain John Tavares hasn’t consistently played on the wing since he last played with Ryan Getzlaf and Steven Stamkos for Canada at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
But that changed when the Maple Leafs made a big move on Friday night to land centers Ryan O’Reilly and Noel Acciari from the St. Louis Blues via a trade.
Armed with some strong depth at the center position, Tavares was moved over to the left wing on Saturday to skate with O'Reilly as his center and Mitch Marner on the wing. And Tavares is ready for whatever advantages it brings to him and the team.
"I think it’s an opportunity where I can look to thrive in the position," Tavares said.
Before the trade, the Leafs were in an evident need to find an upgrade on the left wing of their second line They had tried various players in the spot including Nick Robertson, Denis Malgin, Calle Jarnkrok, Alex Kerfoot just to name a few. Instead of acquiring a winger, Toronto was able to upgrade that position internally with acquisition of O'Reilly in Tavares' old spot, a former Selke Trophy winner, handed out annually to the NHL's best defensive forward.
"How responsible he is with and without the puck, the poise that he plays with and the ability to get the puck to his wingers ... I think can just lead to really good looks," Tavares said of O'Reilly.
The trio of Tavares, O'Reilly and Marner made their debut on a line together on Saturday in a 5-1 win against the Montreal Canadiens. Toronto's schedule hasn't allowed for the group to get in a practice, yet they will play together for the third consecutive game.
Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe reviewed footage of the trio's first two games and liked what he saw, signaling a long-term move.
"We're going to stay with it and give it some time to come together," Keefe said.
With 25 goals and 31 assists in 57 games this season, the 32-year-old Tavares has performed well up the middle, particularly when he's had to take an increased role when Auston Matthews was sidelined with an injury.
But Keefe and Tavares have had many talks throughout the years of eventually moving the captain to the wing to help improve the team's depth.
Some of it also comes down to managing the workload.
"You don’t have to skate as much up and down the rink and getting all the way back," Keefe said about the wing as opposed to playing center. "This is something we would have tried at some point and I just like the ability to go right to it."
In addition to the World Cup of Hockey, Tavares also played on the wing throughout his entire time with Bern SC during the 2012-13 NHL lockout. There was also one game where Tavares played on the wing with the Maple Leafs. It was Game 5 of their qualifying-round series with the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2020.
The Leafs fell 3-0 in that game and were eliminated from the playoffs.
You can argue that the deciding game of a playoff series is a difficult time to put that experiment into place, but 2020 was a weird time as the playoffs began over four months after the regular season was abruptly ended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now he'll have the runway to thrive and based on what Keefe has seen, they hope it will go according to plan.
"I think he’s adjusted fine," Keefe said. "He’s handled plays on the walls really well."