The Toronto Maple Leafs weakness up the middle has been excentuated by the injury bug early in the season. The club has been without center Tyler Bozak since last week due to a lower body injury and will not have the services of Nick Spaling against the Arizona Coyotes at Air Canada Center on Monday.
Spaling, who was acquired as part of the Phil Kessel deal last July, has been utilized by head coach Mike Babcock in a checking/special teams role and as a faceoff specialist. The 27-year-old has just one assist in seven games this season, but is third on the Leafs behind Nazem Kadri and James van Riemsdyk in average time-on-ice per game and second behind Bozak with a 55.5% faceoff winning percentage.
Peter Holland steps back into the lineup on Monday after being a healthy scratch for the game at the Bell Centre, giving the Leafs a center corps of Kadri, Holland, Mark Arcobello and rookie Byron Froese.
The Coyotes have surprised after most predicted the club would be positioned near the bottom of the NHL standings to have the best odds at getting presumptive 2016 top pick(and Scottsdale, AZ native) Auston Matthews. Arizona is 4-3-1 based mostly on the strength of the scoring of rookies Max Domi and Anthony Duclair.
The pair who played together for Team Canada at the 2015 World Junior last January were reunited on the top line with veteran center Martin Hanzal and have combined for eight goals and 17 assists in eight games.
Duclair(who was the main piece in the deal that sent defenseman Keith Yandle to New York) leads the Coyotes with five goals, while the son of former Leaf Tie Domi leads all NHL rookies with nine points.
"Every time I’ve seen him, when I’ve been watching him play Junior hockey, he plays with tenacity," Babcock said of Domi. "He seems to have a confidence about him. I thought he was very good for the World Junior team last year played with energy, but as far as being a pro and seeing him every day, I haven’t seen that.…
Goalie Mike Smith will be in goal for the Coyotes on Monday after Anders Lindback got his first win in Ottawa on Saturday night. Smith is 3-2-0-1 with a 2.49 GAA and .927 save percentage and has performed better after struggling last season.
James Reimer will make his first start in over a week after goalie Jonathan Bernier allowed five goals on 27 shots in Montreal on Saturday.
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Domi’s quick adjustment to being a pro can partially be attributed to growing up around NHL rinks and knowing what it takes to succeed, but also could have something to do with his not being rushed to the pros after being selected 12th overall in the 2013 NHL Draft.
The young forward impressed the Coyotes at training camp in 2014, but GM Don Maloney opted to send Domi back to the OHL London Knights as a 19-year-old. The feisty forward took on a leadership role as the Knight’s team captain and posted a career-high 102 points, as well as his exploits at the 2015 World Junior.
This could be the template that Toronto follows with 2015 top pick Mitch Marner. The fourth overall selection nearly won the OHL scoring title as a 17-year-old and could be a central figure for Canada in the 2016 World Junior in Helsinki.
After completing his third year in Junior, Marner will be 19 and could join the AHL Toronto Marlies on a temporary pro contract for the end of their season and the Calder Cup Playoffs, but the center would still be ineligible to play for the Marlies at the start the 2016-17 season, as the league has a 20-year-old minimum age requirement.
The decision that the Leafs may face next September could be the same as Arizona made last summer. Based on Toronto’s patient development model, it is very possible that Marner will be playing in London next season.
Listen to myself and CTV’s Norman James discuss Domi and the Leafs on our weekly podcast:
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