The Toronto Maple Leafs head coach also wants more team captain John Tavares, which led to a line shuffle ahead of their game against Ottawa on Saturday.
The Toronto Maple Leafs head coach also wants more team captain John Tavares, which led to a line shuffle ahead of their game against Ottawa on Saturday.
Ahead of the Toronto Maple Leafs’ 5-4 shootout victory against the Ottawa Senators, head coach Sheldon Keefe split up the duo of John Tavares and William Nylander.
While initially thought as a strategy to help spread the offense up into three different lines, there was a demotion aspect of it behind the move, particularly with Nylander.
"He’s not skating to the same degree he was earlier in the season where he was a dominant player for us," Keefe said of Nylander following the team's practice on Monday. "We need to get him back going that way."
The 26-year-old has enjoyed a breakout season with the Maple Leafs, registering a career-high 35 goals and 44 assists in 69 games this season, but his play has cooled off a bit.
Nylander has gone three consecutive games without registering a point, but it's not just the lack of points that has Keefe desiring more.
"I just find when the puck is hitting his stick the feet aren’t moving to the same degree, he’s not attacking," Keefe explained."There’s a lot more perimeter, a lot more getting rid of the puck. I want him to hold onto it. I want him to challenge, I want him to be on the attack, lots of pace from him, that’s when he’s at his best.
"That’s really it. Just back to doing that. It’s been too long since we’ve seen that consistently from him but as we’ve seen through the season it’s certainly there."
Keefe's frustrations are reflected in the numbers beyond points. According to NaturalStatTrick.come, Nylander has registered an expected-goals percentage of 27 percent or less in each of his last three games and has just one game above 50 percent over his last six.
In an effort to remedy this, Keefe moved Nylander to the third line with forwards Bobby McMann and Sam Lafferty.
"Playing him with guys who can skate and move their feet and he can be the guy that really drives things, that’s really the idea, nothing much beyond that," Keefe said.
Nylander was requested for an interview but was not made available. And to his credit, this is the first stretch of games this season where the Swedish forward has had a stretch of games like this.
In previous seasons, Nylander has been the target of play similar to this, at times being benched, but it's usually been at earlier stages of the season.
Nylander wasn't the only player to draw the criticism of Keefe on Monday as Tavares' play has also struggled.
"John and Will certainly haven’t played with the same results that they’ve had for most of the season," Keefe said. "They’ve cooled off here."
Tavares' struggles have forced a change at wingers for the captain, reuniting him with Mitch Marner.
The Maple Leafs have struggled at times over stretches of play against their opponents as of late. The club allowed a season-high 52 shots against the Ottawa Senators, a team struggling to stay alive in the playoff chase.
There is't a lot for the Maple Leafs to play for in the standings outside of securing home-ice advantage for their likely playoff meeting against the Tampa Bay Lightning in April.
While Nylander and Tavares are certainly not alone, it's clear that Keefe is trying to get things back on track before any bad habits settle in.
"We haven’t had, outside of some good nights from (Auston) Matthews and Marner, I don’t think we’ve had a lot in there," Keefe said.
Related
Maple Leafs’ Acciari Expected To Return Against Islanders on Tuesday
Maple Leafs’ TJ Brodie Day-to-Day After Blocking A Shot Against the Senators on Saturday