Yesterday, Mike Babcock announced that Travis Dermott should return to the Toronto Maple Leafs lineup on Saturday when they take on the Montreal Canadiens.
Babcock spoke with Jonas Siegel of The Athletic Toronto and explained that Dermott looks like he’ll be healthy enough to return on Saturday. Dermott had injured his ankle on Saturday against the Winnipeg Jets at the Air Canada Centre. He took a slap shot to his ankle and left the game shortly after.
This season, Dermott has proven to be a great addition to the Toronto Maple Leafs defense. In 36 games, he has 1 goal, 12 assists, 46 hits, 35 blocks and a 54.8 corsi-for percentage. His corsi-for percentage is the best out of the Toronto Maple Leafs defensive-core. Yes, Justin Holl, Calle Rosen, Andreas Borgman technically have a higher corsi-for percentage than Dermott, but he’s played three times the amount of games compared to them.
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After a spectacular rookie campaign, Babcock will look to continue to leverage Dermott in the playoffs. The Toronto Maple Leafs will either face the Boston Bruins or the Tampa Bay Lightning and will need Dermott back on the ice to shut them down.
Modeling After The New England Patriots
Dermott needs to be rushed back into the lineup. He needs to get his feet wet against the Canadiens. It’s a game which doesn’t matter in terms of the outcome. If Maple Leafs fans expect Dermott to magically show up and dominate in the first round without playing prior it’d be a mistake.
Over the course of his career, Babcock has emulated the coaching philosophies of Bill Belichick. Belichick, the head coach of the NFL’s New England Patriots has never shut down players prior to the playoffs. Over the years, he could have shut down superstar quarterback, Tom Brady. Instead he chooses not to. It makes sense. It doesn’t make sense to take your best player off the field and shatter his momentum. Belichick doesn’t just have this philosophy in place for Brady. He’s been known to play his players in week 17. Week 17 in the NFL has consistently been a week where coaches contemplate shutting down their top performers.
If Babcock truly admires the coaching styles of Belichick, then he should have no problem putting Dermott back in the lineup.
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As mentioned before, the match-up with the Canadiens will be a relatively easy one. The Habs don’t score many goals. In fact, they are 30th in the NHL in terms of GF/GP with 2.51 goals. So, Dermott should be allowed to come back into the lineup and not be under scrutiny for making a mistake. He needs this game as a practice game prior to what is likely going to be a tough round one match-up.
stats from NHL.com & hockey-reference.com