With no points through five games, Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe has made Pierre Engvall a healthy scratch against the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday.
WINNIPEG — It's been a slow start for Pierre Engvall.
Coming off a season where the forward established career highs in goals (15), assists (20) and points (35) in 78 games, he has no points through five regular season games.
As Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe looks to add some sandpaper by dressing Wayne Simmonds and Kyle Clifford against the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday, Engvall will join Nicholas Aube-Kubel and Denis Malgin as health scratches.
"I spoke with him about it. He's going to clear his head," Sheldon Keefe said of his decision to scratch Engvall. "He's an important player for us. I know he has more ability to impact our lineup positively."
Engvall was skating on the team's third line alongside Alex Kerfoot and Calle Jarnkrok and has seen slightly more offensive zone starts in all situations this season (41.2 percent), so more production was expected.
Keefe feels that an off-season ankle injury that Engvall suffered during off-season training might be what's contributing to his slow start.
"He's looked tentative and hesitant to skate," Keefe said of Engvall. "His No. 1 asset is to move his feet both with the puck and without the puck to get involved and he hasn't done that quite here yet."
The 26-year-old Engvall signed a one-year, $2.25 million contract with the Maple Leafs this offseason. It came mere hours before he was eligible for salary arbitration. He will become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.