Toronto Maple Leafs Week 6 News and Notes, Stats and Quotes

Stat of the week

7 points in his last 7 games, and 0 penalties in his last 8 games?

Alex Kerfoot.  The guy that plays center, plays wing, plays the PK, plays the PP, plays in the top 6, plays in the bottom 6, and basically just does whatever Keefe needs him to do.  He’s also one of the best fore-checkers we have, he’s fast, and he’s pretty good at breaking the puck out of the defensive zone.

Did I miss anything?  Oh yeah, he makes epic faces when Spezza does cool stuff (I couldn’t find a pic of it so I hope you saw it live…it was great).  You can catch a glimpse of it in the video here after Spezza sets up Kerfoot for the tap in, it’s around the 5:30 mark.

Every team needs players like Kerfoot.  Players that are really versatile, stay healthy, and just do whatever they are asked to do.  This is a very underrated part of a successful team.

The guy has taken a lot of criticism this year, and last year as well, and I think he just needed some time to settle in with this team.  So I just wanted to use this section to pump Kerfoot’s tires a little bit.  He’s earned it.  This is the player that Dubas thought he was trading for.

Player Quotes

After the Montreal game, Kerfoot was asked to compare his start this year with his start last year;

"“It was my first time being traded and you never really know how much of an adjustment that is until you go through it.  This year I feel a lot more comfortable with the guys, with the organization, and obviously our team’s having a lot of success and that helps out.  I feel good on the ice right now playing in different spots.”"

This really highlights what I was talking about with his increased production and better overall play.  He may have just needed some time to settle in and now we’re seeing the guy that I think Dubas saw all along.  Patience pays off.

Keefe after the Montreal game on Wednesday, he was asked about the team’s response after a wild 2nd period;

"“I thought we just settled the game down.  I didn’t like the chaos that was the 2nd period, once we’ve got our lead we’ve got to do a better job with that, but in the 3rd period we were really good in that regard.  We just kinda sucked the life out of the game, which is what you want to do when you’ve got a lead against a team like this, especially a fresh team that we knew was going to have lots of legs in the 3rd period.”"

This type of quote from the coach is so different than what Leaf fans are used to hearing after a game like this.  The blown lead against the Senators in that 6-5 loss aside, this team has played with the lead often, and they’ve shut things down consistently.  It’s really nice to have a team that can have a good 3rd period and put a game away.  A 1st place team does that.

Since I’ve mentioned Rielly and his contract, it’s fitting to share his sense of humor.  During the morning skate presser on 2-20, Rielly was getting up to leave as it appeared that there weren’t any more questions, when Mark Masters kind of came in a few seconds late;

"Rielly rolled his eyes and mouthed “Oh man…”.  When Mark was introduced, Rielly said “Mark…of course”, and then he smiled and everybody in the zoom call knew he was joking around."

It was a pretty funny moment.  This is something not a lot of people talk about, but Morgan Rielly is truly one of the game’s best interviews, and having a guy like that on your team is great for the fans and the media alike.

Spezza on Hyman, during on pre game presser on 2-18;

"“Hyms is one of the most important players on our team.  He’s an engine for us.  He brings a lot in terms of as a person with his leadership and also with his play and how hard he works.  He brings a different element for us.”"

I couldn’t have said it any better.  This is just a different team with Hyman in the lineup, a much tougher team to play against, and he just adds a lot of juice to any line he plays on.  Which begs the question, what’s his next contract going to look like?

Until next week,

Keep your sticks on the ice.