Leafs depth forward wasn't good enough to start the season; after a couple of healthy scratches, he got the message

When the Toronto Maple Leafs inked 28-year-old forward Zach Aston-Reese to a professional tryout contract for training camp, it seemed like only a matter of time before that PTO became a 1-year deal. Aston-Reese impressed in camp and in the preseason and did indeed earn himself a 1-year deal, worth a little over $840K, but unfortunately, his start with the team was less than ideal.

Aston-Reese was held pointless through his first 8 games of the season, playing a bit of a softer game than what we're used to seeing from him and was healthy scratched twice by Sheldon Keefe as a result. Well, apparently Aston-Reese got the message, because over the past few games, he's really turned it on.

Granted, one of his scratches was the Los Angeles game, but Aston-Reese looked solid the game before in San Jose and continued his strong play in Anaheim and last night against the Flyers. His scratch for the LA game was probably more about getting another body in there to try to change the dynamic rather than it was a message about his play.

Aston-Reese was rewarded against Philly for his quick turn-around, scoring his first goal of the season and he nearly had two goals in the game as well.

Following the game, Aston-Reese spoke with the media and touched on what he felt was a real wake-up call after the loss in Anaheim.

With how good ZAR has been over these past few games, I'm not so sure we'll see him coming out of the lineup when head coach Sheldon Keefe wants a bit of a different look. At this point, it's likely someone else who ends up coming out.

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