Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe says Ryan O’Reilly’s absence coupled with the depth on defense is why the club will continue to use 11 forwards and seven defensemen for the foreseeable future.
Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe says Ryan O’Reilly’s absence coupled with the depth on defense is why the club will continue to use 11 forwards and seven defensemen for the foreseeable future.
When Jake McCabe, Erik Gustafsson and Luke Schenn joined the Toronto Maple Leafs just days before the NHL trade deadline, it bolstered the team’s depth. But what wasn’t clear was how some of the players — old and new — would factor in.
In an effort to use get more players into the rotation, Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe has elected to go with seven defensemen for games against the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks earlier this month.
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"You need to keep them involved," Keefe said following practice on Sunday. "We added the depth guys because you don't know what you're going to encounter. We could go with the six guys and then we encounter an injury at a key time and all of a sudden you have to play someone who hasn't played. Those are kind of the things we have to manage."
The Leafs reverted back to 12 forwards and six defensemen in their 4-3 win against the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday, but went back to the seven-defensemen deployment against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday and it's expected they'll continue to roll with that on Monday when the club hosts the Buffalo Sabres.
It turns out the decision to go back to w 11 forwards and seven defensemen has a lot to do with the injury sustained to forward Ryan O'Reilly while the clubs as in Vancouver.
"In terms of staying with it (11 and 7), I thought we wouldn't do that, but after processing some things and with that injury, it's important to keep our depth on defense involved and engaged," Keefe said.
Acquired in a trade along with Noel Acciari from the St. Louis Blues last month, O'Reilly was playing his eighth game with the Maple Leafs when he sustained a broken finger after teammate Auston Matthews' shot at the net hit the forward.
With O'Reilly expected to be sidelined until April, the Leafs will go with rotating their loaded defense instead of using the next forward in their lineup.
Among the defensemen eager to get back into the rotation is Schenn, who is in Vancouver after his wife, Jeska Peczek, delivered their third child on Friday night. Schenn is not expected to play against the Sabres, but will head to Toronto soon as the club looks to add him to the mix.
"They are getting things in order and getting baby home and all that so we'll take it a day at a time," Keefe said of Schenn following the team's 7-3 win against the Oilers on Saturday. "I suspect things will start to move here in the next couple of days."
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