Insider discusses Leafs' decision to add penalty killing assignment to Matthews' plate
Over the weekend during Leafs' training camp, we saw the coaching staff deploy Auston Matthews in a penalty killing role during special teams drills. Matthews took reps next to each of William Nylander and Mitch Marner. When it was first revealed by Sheldon Keefe that he wanted to use Matthews more on the penalty kill, people were split as to whether or not it was a good idea. Matthews himself has been open to the idea for a while. On today's episode of TSN 1050's "First Up", Darren Dreger revealed how he felt about the Leafs using Matthews on the penalty kill.
"I like it. Gone are the days where you define units... I think most of us are believers in that you want your best players on the ice in all situations and if you can turn defense into offense by having Matthews out there, how is that a bad thing?" said Dreger. "From a hockey standpoint, one of the areas Matthews doesn't get enough credit on is how he's sharpened the defensive side of his game, how he protects the puck, how he battles, the takeaways, all of those things. Maybe the coaching staff believes he is ready to take on more of a role in that regard."
When Keefe first said he would use Matthews in a penalty killing role, he did say that it would be situational and based on the game and what is happening as he still has to manage his usage to an extent. Given that Marner has quickly become one of the premiere penalty killers in the league, it would not be surprising if Matthews becomes more of a permanent fixture on the PK as the season goes on.
One of the biggest issues, in Keefe's mind, with using Matthews on the PK is that he doesn't want the former Rocket Richard, Hart and Ted Lindsay winner to miss any shifts at 5-on-5, where he has shown to be an elite point producer. If Matthews were to get stuck out on the ice for a long penalty kill, it would likely cost him a couple of shifts at 5v5 over the course of a game. This is why Keefe will need to be careful about how he deploys his top scoring threat.
Matthews has the skill set to be able to excel anywhere, so I'm sure if he does end up becoming a primary penalty killer, the positives will outweigh the negatives.
| POLL | ||
SEPTEMBRE 25 | 355 ANSWERS Insider discusses Leafs' decision to add penalty killing assignment to Matthews' plate Do you like the idea of Matthews killing penalties? | ||
| I like it | 76 | 21.4 % |
| I don't like the added injury risk | 111 | 31.3 % |
| For the money he makes, he better do it all | 70 | 19.7 % |
| I'm fine with it, but only situationally | 98 | 27.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
