Maple Leafs Trying to Help Rasmus Sandin Regain His Confidence
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The Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman hasn’t been happy with his play as of late. With other key injuries affecting the depth in the position, the team is working with Sandin to regain faith in his game.
Rasmus Sandin wasn’t happy with his giveaway that helped the Pittsburgh Penguins launch a comeback in their game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday.
“I threw a pizza right up the middle,” he said.
Outside of the mistake that led to Sidney Crosby’s goal, Sandin hasn’t been pleased with his overall play as of late.
“I think I was awful, but it happens,” Sandin said before the Maple Leafs host the red-hot New Jersey Devils on Thursday. “You aren’t always going to play great, you aren’t always going to play the way you wanted to. It’s a new game day and a new opportunity to get better.”
Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe says Sandin is currently dealing with a lack of confidence in his game. With veteran forwards Jake Muzzin and TJ Brodie out of the lineup, it’s players like Sandin that are counted on to take an additional step in their development with the goal of becoming a top-four defenseman in the NHL.
“[I] spoke with him here today about just clearing his dead and getting back to being the player that he knows he can be,” Keefe said. “It hasn’t come together for him like a number of our guys here in the early going. It hasn’t happened for different reasons and he’s one. He’s got far more to give us here.”
The 22-year-old Sandin signed a two-year, $2.8 million contract on Sept. 29 after a summer-long contract negotiation. The issue was resolved shortly after defensemen Jordie Benn and Carl Dahlstrom were injured in a pre-season game. The team was also without Muzzin due to back discomfort at the time.
With Muzzin out indefinitely with a cervical spine issue until late February at the earliest and Brodie out with an oblique injury for a couple of weeks, Sandin won’t be on a short leash. They need him to perform.
Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas said on Monday that he’ll be watching the development of both Sandin and Timothy Liljegren between now and later in the season before deciding if the team needs to make a move to address the team’s depth on defense.
As far as the actual play Sandin made that led to Crosby’s goal, Keefe didn’t see an issue with the read, saying it’s a play that has been successfully executed in that situation before.
But now it’s about restoring Sandin faith in his game, something that is key to Swedish defenseman’s success earlier in his career.
“I think he’s low on confidence at this time,” Keefe said. “We need to help him get back to being himself. Confidence is a strength of his and it allows him to play his game and feel good about getting involved offensively. And as that happens, naturally you feel better defensively.”