Babcock announces major change for Leafs forward & praises young rookie.

Big changes coming for some Leafs.

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Published 5 years ago
Babcock announces major change for Leafs forward & praises young rookie.
Keystone Press

The Toronto Maple Leafs are in an important transition phase as the benefits of their long term rebuild come to fruition and that will result in some rather significant changes for a number of players on their roster. On Saturday head coach Mike Babcock provided some insight into a very interesting change that appears will last the entire 2018 - 2019 National Hockey League season and perhaps well into the future as well.

According to a report from James Mirtle of The Athletic, Babcock informed reporters on Saturday morning that Maple Leafs veteran forward Nazem Kadri would be flexing to the wing at various points this season in order to maximize his ice time. It's interesting if only because Kadri has for a very long time been one of the organizations most consistent and reliable centers, and it's an indication of just how stacked the Leafs are at the forward position. It's unclear if the absence of William Nylander is playing a role in the need to move Kadri around but I would be remiss if I didn't at least mention it as a possible motivation for the move.

Some of you more astute Maple Leaf fans may have noticed that Babcock already began experimenting with this in the very first game of the regular season. Although it was not a staggering amount of time by any stretch of the imagination Kadri was in fact paired up with star center John Tavares and winger Mitch Marner for 1:35 of ice time in the season opener, all of it at 5 on 5.


Although the absence of Nylander, and more specifically how that impacts the roster the Leafs field every night, may be a contributing factor another big reason for the move may be the standout performance of Maple Leafs rookie Par Lindholm. Now technically because he is over 27 years of age he does not fall under the Collective Bargaining Agreement's definition of a rookie player, but it remains Lindholm's first season in the NHL after spending his entire career thus far in the Swedish Hockey League. 

Lindholm, a natural center, has been outstanding for the Maple Leafs in training camp, the preseason, and through the first game of the regular season. Although it's a very small sample size so far it has been enough to convince head coach Mike Babcock that he can consistently lean on Lindholm's skills on the ice and that he can trust him to be responsible on both ends of the ice as well.

"You trust the guy when he's on the ice," said Babcock. "He makes plays. He's real good on the backhand. We think he has a chance to be a good player for us and fit into our group nicely because he can provide a role for us."

Although this is purely speculative, it seems fair to suggest than the extra tool for Babcock to use up the middle of the ice has limited the amount of time he has to spread out to his other centers, and it may be for that reason that Kadri finds himself moving to the wing. 

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