“Oh baby” as Bob Cole would have said, what a day for Simon Benoit.
The bleary-eyed new father reported for his first day of on-ice practice with the Maple Leafs on Friday, about 36 hours after helping partner Alice with the birth of their first child.
Despite lack of shut eye, he was tossed right into coach Craig Berube’s grinder training camp.
When a competitive coverage drill went a bit too far with winger Max Domi, the two men among Toronto’s most physical players, they ended up rolling around the Ford Centre ice in a wrestling match. Fortunately for Benoit, it was near the end of the workout with he and Domi near exhaustion.
They did have a conciliatory moment after the post-practice stretch, which Benoit led at the centre ice dot in honour of his fatherhood.
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“Just trying to show him my new Dad strength,” cracked Benoit, adding “we know it will be different under Berube, he wants us to work hard, play hard. No hard feelings (between he and Domi) it’s all buddy-buddy.”
The yet-unnamed daughter for Benoit and partner Alice came on the eve of Benoit’s 26th birthday on Thursday.
“Long hours at the hospital and I have to go back today,” he said. “I’m glad my girlfriend and the baby are healthy.
“(The birth) was a pretty special moment. I was just trying to understand how that (baby) came from me and my girlfriend. Mostly her, though I still had a little work in that process. She just looks at you and there’s not really words for it.”
Benoit’s haggard appearance was the source of much mirth in the dressing room as he sought advice from veteran Leafs with kids on tips to help with sleep patterns.
“He looked a bit like a zombie,” Jake McCabe, Benoit’s regular defence partner last season, said with a laugh. “The new dads can chuckle about it, we’ve been there, done that.
“I have two good sleepers, so I got a good eight hours last night.”
Benoit and McCabe are split at camp, at least for now. McCabe is getting a look with one of the club’s three noteworthy blueline additions, Oliver Ekman-Larsson from the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers. Benoit was with Timothy Liljegren and in the second practice group, another new dad, Morgan Rielly, has been teamed, as anticipated, with the brawniest of the new blueliners, Chris Tanev.
“They’ve been fine,” Berube said of Tanev-Rielly, who’ve played for Canada at the world championship. “I think they’ll try and form some chemistry (but) it has been two days. I’m not going to jump ahead and get talking about the future. Chris is a character guy, can block a shot, it’s hard to play against him and he’s a good penalty killer.”
Yet to see a full practice is 6-foot-7 free-agent signing Jani Hakanpaa, who likely will not start the season on the active roster while getting a knee injury rehabbed.
Liljegren and Conor Timmins are back from last year and Marlies such as Topi Niemela and Cade Webber are going to push for jobs through camp.
Team captain Auston Matthews gave a shout-out to another defender, Marshall Rifai, as a hard-nosed player who had impressed him in summer skates and so far at camp. Benoit’s absence on Day 1 and Hakanpaa’s inability to practice yet could see some new pairings.
As exhibition games start — Sunday at home against Ottawa is the first of six — there might be more trials on defence. McCabe and Ekman-Larsson are both left shots.
“That’s the way the season goes, I think we used a dozen defencemen last year,” McCabe said. “That’s the way it’s been my whole career. Start with a guy and maybe switch things up or maybe stay with him all year, you never know. You have injuries, some long-term, and you need to fill those spots. You need contributions not just from your top six, but seven, eight, nine, ten down the line.”
The 30-year-old McCabe also revealed contract talks on an extension began with the Leafs in summer.
“I love it here, we’ll see how things go,” McCabe said. “Continue to improve is my goal every single year. The body feels great. As you put the games together in this league (almost 600 for him) you put yourself in more situations to grow. Especially as a defenceman, you see certain situations, whether it’s line rushes, defensive zone coverage and are able to adapt.
“In my overall game, I want to take another step as a leader on this team and push us in the right direction.”
Benoit is OK if split from McCabe.
“I played with Timothy a couple of games last year, he’s (a good complement to Benoit’s stay-at-home style), he brings the puck to the net and is a good skater, too.”
The players are quickly getting used to Berube’s style, the incumbents after almost five years of Sheldon Keefe.
“(Day 1) was a good push, up and down the ice,” McCabe said. “It’s the battle level that you can’t replicate in the summer. Just turn the brain on that it’s time to ramp up the intensity.”
LOOSE LEAFS
Forward Steven Lorentz, here on a PTO after winning the Cup with the Panthers, was missing Friday, listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury. Fraser Minten, the young centre who made the Leafs out of camp last year, is now in a walking boot after a high-ankle sprain on his left leg last week … This year’s first-round pick, defenceman Ben Danford, is on skates but practising alone as he recovers from a concussion … Matthew Knies has put 10 pounds on an already-large frame this summer. He was asked if he and fellow Arizonan first-liner Matthews ever cross paths in the off-season. “I smoked him at tennis,” boasted Knies, making the claim twice so the media didn’t miss it. Matthews followed him to the podium, quite offended. “He’s never beaten me at tennis. He came in the room and told me he said that and I said ‘I can’t believe you’d lie like that.’ We played a lot. He’s good. But he lied.”
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