Maple Leafs on what they’d steal from teammates: Marner’s skating, Nylander’s confidence

The conversations between John Tavares and Jason Spezza have been constant. Since the two became Maple Leafs teammates in 2019, they’ve marvelled at the habits young NHL players display compared to the habits they were taught over 20 years earlier.

“Like ankle flexion in skating and how important that is now,” Tavares, 32, offered as an example, with a grin. “You see the best skaters and how much they get through that. Growing up for us it was just like, ‘Tie your skates as tight as you can.’”

What’s no joke is how often Tavares tries to implement those differing approaches into his own game.

“You can’t make changes the way you could when you were 8 years old, but you can always find ways to use your strengths in a different way,” Tavares said. “That’s what makes the game great: different players and how they see it.”

Tavares isn’t alone. Given the opportunity, there are plenty of skills, habits and, um, other things, his teammates would steal from their fellow Leafs.

As colleague Joe Smith noted, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. So after multiple reporters at The Athletic asked the teams they cover the same question, I quizzed multiple Maple Leafs: What’s something you’d steal from a teammate?

When you’re able to play with some of the best players in the world, it’s only fitting their skills would be the envy of teammates.

“You can take everything from (Auston Matthews’) game,” Alex Kerfoot said. “His shot gets all of the attention, the rest of his game is underrated a little bit.”

Kerfoot is right: David Kämpf didn’t even let me finish the question before answering: “Matty’s shot.”

Asked what it is about Matthews’ shot that stands out, Kämpf looked quizzically at me and the second head I thought I had growing out of my neck.

“He scored 60 goals last year,” Kämpf said dryly, as in, bone dry.

Pressed, Kämpf appreciates how Matthews’ quick release keeps goalies guessing. He also understands that even if he tries to pick up elements of Matthews’ shot, Kämpf will never be able to replicate it.

“It has to be in you. Of course, you can teach it a little bit, but I will never have the same shot as (Matthews),” Kämpf said.

One player who largely flew under the radar through his first season in Toronto but has since made the most of his top-line opportunities is Calle Järnkrok. He has a multi-tooled skill set without any serious high-end attributes … or so outsiders might say.

Inside the Leafs room, Järnkrok has admirers, like Justin Holl. The defenceman isn’t known for his bombs from the point, but if he could steal Järnkrok’s shot, he’d be more inclined to let ‘er rip.

“I was just watching (Järnkrok) take one-timers and I’d steal his shot. It’s an underrated shot. Shooting off the pass — he takes hard passes and gets a lot on his one-timers. He was bombing ‘em,” Holl said.

Having dual shooting threats is partly what’s made the pair effective together. In Järnkrok and Matthews’ 106 minutes of five-on-five time spent together, the Leafs have outscored the competition 9-3 while generating 62 percent of the scoring chances.

The adoration for Matthews’ game doesn’t end with his shot. Even a player as accomplished as Tavares would steal something from the person he sits beside in the Leafs dressing room.

“Probably Auston’s puck control and body control,” Tavares said. “Obviously, (Matthews’) shot is spectacular, but his ability to use his body in so many different ways and then handle the puck through that is such a unique trait. It’s so hard to teach. It’s at a very special level amongst all the players in our game.”

Not surprisingly, Tavares says he quizzes Matthews “all the time” about how he uses his edges to change directions with the puck and the habits he built growing up by learning how to earn positioning and space.

Matthews isn’t the only star who has desirable traits in his game.

“(Mitch) Marner sees the ice so well. I would love to have his vision,” Järnkrok said of what he’d steal from Marner’s all-world skill set. “I’m just trying to keep my stick on the ice. If I’m in a scoring position, he usually gets the puck to me.”

“Mitchy’s edges,” Timothy Liljegren added. “He doesn’t lose speed when he turns. He’s such a smooth skater and it seems like he doesn’t use a lot of energy when he skates.”

The questions surrounding Liljegren when he was drafted and as he developed with the Marlies often centered around his mechanical skating stride. He’s since made improvements, looking smoother with the puck in the neutral zone as a result. But he knows there are haves and have-nots in the Leafs room when it comes to skating.

“To skate like Mitchy, it’s probably not going to happen (for me),” Liljegren said with a smile.

Even the team’s newcomers have become awestruck by Marner’s skills: Sam Lafferty would steal Marner and Matthews’ “touch” with the puck.

“The way they settle down tough pucks and get them in a threatening position right away, it’s a really underrated skill. They’ll be in tight corners, and there will be a tough puck, and with their first touch, they’ll get it in a position to make a dangerous play,” Lafferty said.

Lafferty couldn’t help but notice that touch when he played against them as a Chicago Blackhawk, but skating alongside them has made their skills that much more prevalent.

“You sustain the pressure, you sustain your time in the offensive zone and that leads to the next chance,” Lafferty said of the positive impact of those touches. “A simple play like that can make all the difference.”

Speaking of simple plays, Michael Bunting wanted to go off the board with what he’d steal, “because I’m sure everyone is saying Matthews’ shot.”

He’d swipe what’s become known around the Leafs dressing room as “The Hater Stick” because it breaks up so many opposition plays: defenceman T.J. Brodie’s stickwork.

“He intercepts pucks a lot, and I feel like that would go in my favour on the forecheck,” Bunting said.

Moving further down the ice, goalies tend to stick together, so it’s no surprise multiple Leafs goalies would steal traits from each other.

After struggling through his first few professional seasons, Joseph Woll deserves credit for maintaining calm and believing in his abilities. And in his brief stints sitting near Matt Murray in the Leafs locker room this season, Woll has marvelled at “the calmness in his demeanour.”

“It’s something I first saw with Freddie Andersen,” Woll said. “One of the biggest things I took from him was his mindset, which was very elite. Both of those guys have very similar mindsets. That’s something I’ve tried to incorporate as well.”

Murray raises his eyes in genuine surprise when word of Woll’s admiration is relayed.

“It’s something I’ve tried to learn and perfect over the years. But it can be difficult to be a goalie, in any market, especially the more intense ones. A lot of times as a goalie, your emotions can work against you. So I’ve just tried since I was young to master my emotions rather than having them master me,” Murray said.

In an interesting contrast, if Murray could steal anything from the Leafs’ other goaltender, Ilya Samsonov, it’s his “natural” talent and reflexes.

“You can tell the game comes easy for (Samsonov),” Murray said.

Kerfoot would steal William Nylander’s ability to accelerate in and out of turns, which sometimes appear to come easily to him all the same.

“He’s able to create separation for himself by being so explosive on his edges and cutting back. As a forward, a lot of the time you play in the (offensive) zone you have minimal separation. To be able to create that separation is elite,” Kerfoot said. “His strength on his skates, his edge control … a lot of guys can do that, but then can’t control the puck or make plays with the puck. He has the ability to have full control with the puck in tight spaces and survey the rink and know what he wants to do while the most important thing is being able to maintain speed.”

It’s not just on-ice skills the Leafs would steal from their teammates, particularly Nylander.

Morgan Rielly didn’t have to think twice: he’d steal Nylander’s swaggering confidence.

“I bet a lot of guys would say that if you presented it as an option,” Rielly said.

Holl even double-dipped on his answer. Even though he has a dog himself, a two-year-old boxer named Franklin, he’d steal Marner’s chocolate lab, Zeus.

“I love my dog, but now I’d have a playmate for my dog at all times. All dogs are great dogs, but Zeus is a little love bug,” Holl said.

Finally, Zach Aston-Reese only needed to look a few spots to his right in the Leafs dressing room for his answer. The fourth-liner, on a one-year, $840,630 contract, recently redeemed himself to a legion of Leafs fans with his introverted approach.

And what he’d steal from his teammates will likely earn him a few more fans, because, well, who wouldn’t want what he’s after?

“One of the top guy’s bank accounts,” he said, nodding down to Tavares and Marner’s stalls.

He knows exactly what he’d do with their chequebooks, too.

“Buy a house in Florida somewhere,” Aston-Reese said. “And then get a nice, separate house for my dog. Spoil him.”

(Stats via Natural Stat Trick)

(Top photo: Elsa / Getty Images)