Toronto Maple Leafs: Sheldon Keefe and Opportunity

“Opportunity” has become a buzzword staple within the Toronto Maple Leafs organization, mainly perpetrated by Mike Babcock.

As a young player enters the fray, Babcock opines about the opportunity lying ahead, his thick Saskatchewan accent aggressively punctuating the p’s.

It’s gotten to the point where, when I see that word written down, I can’t help but read it in Babcock’s voice. His unique vernacular is ingrained within my subconscious.

This is my life now, I guess.

An insistence on opportunity doesn’t only rest at the NHL level. In fact, the coach within the Leafs organization whose actions are most closely synonymous with “opportunity” isn’t Babcock at all.

That honour goes to Marlies head coach Sheldon Keefe.

ATO’s

Despite exhibiting a similar playing style to their big league counterparts, the AHL is a far different animal altogether.

New acquisitions enter NHL lockerrooms mid-season primarily via trades and waiver claims. Aside from the occasional top NCAA recruit, those joining a team for the stretch run commonly do so with a resume full of prior NHL experience.

Well, that’s not the case in the AHL.

Thanks to both PTO’s and ATO’s, players from all corners of the hockey globe join organizations prior to the playoffs. Most of them possess no professional experience at all.

Newly-signed Marlie Josh Kestner serves as a prime example of this.

Kestner hails from Huntsville, Alabama, an area no one will mistake for a hockey hotbed. The Marlies immediately snatched him following the completion of his four years in the NCAA with the University of Huntsville-Alabama. In fact, the 2017-18 season served as the program’s most successful during Kestner’s tenure at the school.

Their record was 10-16-2.

Now, Kestner joins a first place Marlies team littered with NHL talent. Not to mention, he’s arriving mere weeks before they embark on what should be a lengthy playoff run. No one expects him to receive significant playing time, right?

Wrong.

Prior to their meeting with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins this past Wednesday, Kestner took line rushes alongside Miro Aaltonen and Trevor Moore. Two weeks ago he was in Alabama.

On Wednesday, he in was in Toronto. On their top line.

Usage

Kestner’s promotion isn’t an isolated incident.

This past weekend, the Marlies saw a number of their PTO and ATO signees make their debuts, combating the fatigue from a stretch of three games in three nights.

Perhaps the most closely observed of the bunch was Pierre Engvall.

The lanky Swede was fresh off a successful rookie campaign in the SHL, with fans and scouts alike eager to catch a glimpse of his potential.

Rather than easing the youngster in, or even sheltering him on the fourth line, Keefe took a different approach. No, Engvall not only debuted on the Marlies top line. Keefe deployed him as a staple on the second PP unit as well.

Rewarding his coach’s trust, Engvall scored his first North American goal a day later. And yes, it came on the powerplay.

That same game, Brady Ferguson, signed to an ATO on March 21st, worked the point on the first PP unit. Scott Pooley, signed on March 18th, hopped over the boards to defend a 1-0 lead with under a minute remaining.

Like Engvall, Pooley rewarded his coach by scoring his first AHL goal, a 90-foot empty netter to seal the win.

Liljegren

These opportunities aren’t just handed to players on tryout offers.

As a rookie, Uber-prospect Timothy Liljegren has been the beneficiary of numerous opportunities heaped upon him by Keefe all season.

Now, there’s a reason as to why Liljegren is the AHL’s lone 18-year-old defenceman.

In most cases, players of his ilk simply aren’t pro-ready and can’t be trusted at that level quite yet. Following a season fraught with mononucleosis and injury, Keefe likely could have kept Liljegren on his roster as a fringe player. Conventional wisdom would suggest he use this year as a teaching tool for Liljegren, focusing on the grind of the professional game.

As time has since proved, that’s not what happened.

Keefe recognized Lilegren’s talent immediately, handing him opportunities specifically designed to challenge him.

In fact, the rookie has been anything but sheltered in his debut season. On most nights he’s either logging heavy minutes at both even strength and the man advantage, or he’s forced into operating as his pairing’s defensively sound component.

Bucking convention, Keefe presented Liljegren with an opportunity to prove his worth. The teenager is thriving because of it.

Reasoning

On Saturday, I asked Keefe to explain his reasoning behind levying increased responsibility upon younger players. His answer did wonders in revealing the same philosophy which will make him one of hockey’s most sought-after coaching commodities this summer.

"It doesn’t do us much good to bring people in and sit them on the bench and not play them to their strenghs. So, if somebody comes in and we believe they have skill and they’re real productive on the power play then we’re going to use them in those situations. I just think that when you bring people in to be a part of your organization you’ve got to give them a proper opportunity."

If an arriving player can help his team in a specific way, Keefe will give him ample opportunity to prove it. And, if said player responds positively to his initial challenge, he’ll then be handed more as the season progresses.

That’s precisely what development is all about.

In hockey, success won’t be found in your comfort zone. The only path to improvement is by wading into uncharted waters and then building upon what you learned.

Next: Fate of the Fourth Line

As he’s demonstrated for years, Keefe doesn’t seem to own many life vests. And, his stable of young talent is better off for it.