Quick Shifts: John Tavares turning big weakness into strength

A quick mix of the things we gleaned from the week of hockey, serious and less so, and rolling four lines deep. Bravo, Travis Dermott.

1. While the younger, flashier William Nylander hogs headlines, his centreman heads into the weekend with just as many points (11) and on an identical seven-game point streak to start his season.

But for John Tavares — who will do everything in his power to prolong his prime — to co-lead the Toronto Maple Leafs in scoring is, perhaps, a more impressive feat, considering the captain is in his 15th season.

Does it surprise Nylander in the slightest that Tavares is right there with him?

“No, man. He’s dialed every day,” Nylander says, with a smile.

As if the question is ridiculous.

What’s more ridiculous is Tavares’ point-per-game consistency. Or that a 33-year-old with an already-lofty résumé has jumped to his hottest start ever: four goals, seven assists, and two game-winners through seven contests.

“Generating offence has been a calling card since I was a kid,” Tavares says. “So, you just go out there and try to earn your opportunities, playing within the team concept and the structure we want to play with, the identity you want to play.”

That identity starts with winning the draw (Tavares is swiping at 62 per cent) and taking care of the defensive side of the puck first.

As the conscience of Toronto’s second line, Tavares allows Nylander some leash to blow the zone and create with his dynamic feet. Conversely, Nylander’s playmaking and finishing touch no doubt have played a role boosting the veteran’s stats.

“Will is really getting defences on their heels here this season. And I think that’s benefiting anyone that he’s playing with,” coach Sheldon Keefe says. “But John [has] had a tremendous attention to detail defensively. He’s really taking charge, being a leader on that line and really looking to execute the details of our defensive structure, which I think helps his linemates to be good offensively. Helps Willy to take some extra chances here and there.

“John has, to me, really respected the structure in the system and still found ways to produce on offence. And to me, that’s what you want to see from your captain.”

Keefe is big on structure.

Players who have had multiple NHL coaches are quick to point this out.

And if a leader like Tavares buys in, and reaps results, there is a positive trickle effect.

Tavares is big on training, on frustrating Father Time by simultaneously sharpening his strengths (grinding below the dots, finishing in tight, superb power-play work) while improving his weaknesses.

Like skating.

Foot speed has long been a work in progress for Tavares, but he dedicated his summer to quickening his bursts, and has seen positive results. The NHL’s player tracking supports this.

“It’s a good sign,” Tavares says. “You try to work on things, put in hard work, and find ways to keep getting better, keep pushing yourself.

“You know, it’s obviously an area of mine I’ve always had to work really hard at. It has never come easy or natural. But obviously glad to continue to make it to a strength of mine.”

2. Asked some established (non-Leafs) NHLers about Shane Pinto and his whopping 41-game suspension for violating the league’s gambling rules.

All said it was understood that betting on hockey was prohibited.

“I don’t know what he did. But you just don’t touch hockey,” one player said. “I think it’s pretty straightforward.”

To do so anyway, one player said, would be “stupid.”

Another questioned how one could even throw a hockey game: “What? Take a bunch of penalties?”

None knew of any other gambling restrictions off the top of their head.

One mentioned that, during training camp, players were presented with instructional video presentations on topics like concussions and rules of the game and was pretty sure gambling was covered as well.

Point being: Pinto’s punishment should be pointed toward as evidence for more thorough education, be it from the league, its teams, or the Players’ Association.

If the league is going to slap betting logos on helmets and around arenas and on its broadcasts, more effort should be made to outline the guidelines to the athletes.

And if they cross those lines, fine. Throw the book. But offer help, too, if they have an addiction.

3. Watching Capitals practice, I was intrigued by a skills drill that placed two tended nets in a single zone, both goalies facing the same direction.

Carbery explained that the small-area game of 3-on-3 tries to improve players’ ability to quickly recognize situations where they can attack. The team possessing the puck can score on either goalie. Just pounce.

“If you’ve got space and beat your check, attack,” Carbery stresses.

The drill is a new one for veteran T.J. Oshie, but he’s one of several who find the exercise fun and creative. Anything to jolt the 31st-ranked offence.

4. Evgeny Kuznetsov feels a little guilty that Washington’s players have been slow to deliver for Carbery. The centreman complained publicly that former coach Peter Laviolette’s system sapped his natural creative instincts and led to boring dump-and-chase hockey.

Carbery has given more green lights and is open to more offensive freedom, but the results have been slow to materialize.

On Sunday, former Capital Ilya Samsonov met for lunch with Russian pals Kuznetsov and Ovechkin. Among the topics discussed was the public blowback Kuznetsov has received for his super-slow shootout move.

It did not go unnoticed in the Caps room that former referee called his strategy a “mockery.”

Kuznetsov vehemently defended his move to myself and another reporter. If doing everything legally possible to score isn’t fair to the goalie, well, maybe power plays aren’t fair to goalies either, he suggested.

He was having fun with the topic, but he’s serious.

“I don’t get the point when some people put in the bad comments,” Kuznetsov said. “I’m not trying to be cocky. It’s just something that helps my team to get goals, and if it’s going to continue to work, I’m going to continue to do that stuff.

“I’m not trying to be bad example. I just found a way that’s been working for me.”

Kuznetsov missed his first six shootout attempts of 2021-22. He kept ringing the post and couldn’t figure out why. He studied the angles.

On March 22, 2022, in a shootout against the Buffalo Sabres, he decided to slow down and concentrate harder on his shot placement.

Bingo.

He found his move. One that looks cool — but only if it works.

“It’s something that if you try to do and it’s not going to work out, you’re going to be under a lot of pressure,” Kuznetsov notes. “But, at the same time, I feel like the pressure… kind of helps you to be even more focused.”

Samsonov was victimized by his share during his D.C. practice days.

“It’s really hard for goalie,” Samsonov admitted. “Everybody ask me what to do. I think some goalies want to hit his stick.”

5. Dallas forward Tyler Seguin on former teammate John Klingberg, now a Maple Leafs: “He was a top-three star at my wedding this summer. So, I really appreciated him flying out [to the Bahamas]. Yeah, we miss him here.”

6. In a critical moment of the Leafs’ win in Dallas Thursday, with the Stars pressing, Joseph Woll went full splits to rob Jason Robertson of a potential momentum-shifting goal.

“I have kind of a goofy body, so I don’t really practise [the splits]. I actually have to contain my body a bit because I’m pretty flexible. So, I don’t really do much stretching. I do more stuff to kinda get my muscles working to keep everything in place,” Woll says.

“It’s more just strengthening the muscles and stuff to support my flexibility. I’m bit God-given in that way, the flexibility. But I think the important thing for me is to make sure everything’s working to keep my body and my joints safe.”

Don’t goofy body-shame the man.

“He’s a stud,” says Woll’s former U.S. National Team Development Program partner and Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger. “You can ask anyone in our locker room, last year in the playoffs I was saying I think that will be his net very soon.”

7. Touched on the incredible October of William Nylander this week as he attempts to tie the Maple Leafs’ season-starting point-streak record Saturday in Nashville.

While it’s frightening to think of the club letting a prime talent of Nylander’s calibre walk away for nothing, managing his hard-earned raise will be challenging for the first season, 2024-25, when captain John Tavares still carries an $11-million cap hit.

Now, this is not a report but rather a theory, presented by someone in Washington who had a front-row seat for the Capitals’ crafty Brooks Orpik manoeuvre during the 2018 off-season.

GM Brian MacLellan liked the veteran defenceman but not his $5.5 million cap hit, so he traded Orpik to Colorado, then a team with cap space to spare, and included the sweeteners of goalie Philipp Grubauer and a second-round pick.

The Avalanche swiftly bought out the final season of Orpik deal, and Orpik later signed again with the Capitals as a UFA for a cap-friendly sum that made him whole and eased Washington’s cap situation.

The NHL investigated the series of transactions and ruled everything had been above board.

Colorado secured assets as a middleman. Orpik got his money. And Washington kept the player it desired at a rate that allowed for raises elsewhere in the lineup. Win-win-win.

Shenanigans, or simply shrewd use of loopholes?

Would the Maple Leafs dare approach Tavares with such an indecent proposal in the name of keeping Nylander in the fold? Would the captain accept?

I have no knowledge this is something being seriously considered, but some people outside Toronto’s front office are wondering.

8. Hangover, schmangover.

Seeing the Vegas Golden Knights (7-0-1) fly out to first place and undefeated in regulation reminds me of something Jonathan Marchessault said following their Stanley Cup victory in June.

The Conn Smythe Trophy winner believed the Knights would be fine playing another round right after defeating Florida.

Contrary to Cup lore, Vegas wasn’t a depleted group of ice bags trying to catch their breath. Victory did not sap every ounce of energy from the room, which kinda flies in the face of hockey romanticism but speaks to the power of lineup depth and spreading ice time.

The Knights’ rapid start is also a win for continuity.

For the first time in 10 years, everyone in the defending champs’ opening-night lineup also had their name etched into the Cup.

Save for cap casualty Reilly Smith, the players are the same, the coaches are the same, and the front office is the same.

You want depth? Seventeen(!) players have already scored at least once for Vegas through eight games.

9. Of course, you need a balanced lineup of trusted horses to run a bench the way Cassidy does his. (Quick shifts, boys. Natch.)

On the flip side, we find talent-thin teams leaning too heavily on a handful of skaters.

Take Connor Bedard in Chicago, for example.

Bedard’s average shift length is a whopping 1:01. The super rookie ranks third in the category among all forwards, and linemate Ryan Donato (1:00) is right behind him.

A trio of Minnesota forwards — Kirill Kaprizov (1:05), Mats Zuccarello (1:02) and Matt Boldy (1:01) — are the only others extending most shifts beyond the 60-second mark.

No doubt, Bedard is young and eager and well-conditioned. He can take on extra work.

But by the time the Blackhawks are competitive and Bedard acclimatizes to NHL rhythms, you’d expect that figure to come down.

10. Quote of the Week.

“Why did they have to do that in the first place? You’ll never get the answers from them. You’ll never get the answers for that. That’s just something I’ve come to understand. They don’t have answers for a lot of things that they do. They follow and try to save face.” — Matt Dumba, Arizona Coyotes defenceman, on the NHL’s now-rescinded Pride Tape ban

11. Simply a wild turn of events in Carolina, as the Hurricanes’ identity as a defensive stalwart has completely flipped this season.

Despite dressing one of the better blue lines on paper and securing the most coveted UFA defenceman over the summer (Dmitry Orlov), Carolina has surprised by dropping from second-best overall in goals against in 2022-23 (2.56) to second worst this season (4.38) through eight games.

If Orlov’s league-worst minus-11 rating wasn’t concern enough, now the ‘Canes must stabilize their back end without the services of the reliable Brett Pesce (lower body) for up to four weeks as he recovers from surgery.

12. Seguin got asked this week to remember his draft day.

“Yep, I remember we both wanted to go to Boston,” he quipped. (Sorry, Edmonton.)

Ha. No, not that. The format, with all the players and executives gathering under one roof.

In that case, Seguin thinks having the picture of himself onstage is cool. But he also loves the TV series Ballers and would be fine with the NFL model. A phone call from the GM’s war room would be fine.

As long as the draft pick is surrounded by family and you get to pull on a sweater, that’s what counts. Plus, Seguin adds, it’s your new NHL teammates who you really want to meet when you’re an 18-year-old prospect.

“It’s not so much whose hand you’re shaking when you get that jersey,” Seguin says.

Seguin’s current coach, Pete DeBoer, thinks decentralizing the draft is a fascinating debate.

DeBoer was working in the OHL when that league switched to an online draft in the name of logistics and economics. He gets that argument. However…

“I did find when we decentralized it in the Ontario League that you miss that human interaction, the one time a year everybody can get together without the pressure of games and spend time together. But I’m old school,” DeBoer says, sounding a touch defeated.

“That’s the way our whole world is going. So, I guess, get in line for it — because that’s the way things are going.”

DeBoer points to the coaches’ symposium held in Nashville during the most recent draft weekend, how 600 to 700 hockey coaches from around the continent gathered to share information and trade stories.

“You would lose the ability to do those type of things,” DeBoer says. “So, I mean, there’s a human element to it that I think will be missed.”