WASHINGTON, D.C. — There is no more sugarcoating it.
The glass-half-full news here is that — on the heels of the power forward’s first and long-anticipated healthy scratch — no one is pretending otherwise.
Head coach Craig Berube waited 22 games before benching the bottom-six checker whom GM Brad Treliving scooped up this summer from the Canucks.
At first blush, the acquisition felt like a low-cost, low-risk flyer.
An 18-goal, 32-point, hard-checking, defensively responsible forechecker? A fan favourite of any Vancouverite who tuned in for the 2024 playoffs? For the low, low price of a 2028 fourth-rounder?
Six weeks into the player’s proposed redemption campaign, however, the Maple Leafs’ plans of constructing an every-night shutdown line around Joshua and centre Nicolas Roy still look shaky at best.
Joshua had mustered just two goals and three assists to go with his minus-8 rating and had gone eight games without a point. He failed to so much as register a shot in five of those and had slipped to the fourth line.
Though far from detrimental, Joshua’s shifts have been too quiet. Inconsequential. His physical presence has either been overhyped or is about to show up late to the party.
Hardly a great return on a $3.25-million-a-year investment who is under contract through 2027-28.
“We need more out of you. And I agree with him. And I have no arguments with that. I need more out of myself, and so does the team,” Joshua told Sportsnet Thursday, following a Thanksgiving Day practice in the U.S. capital. “Got to be better.
“Everybody’s smart in here and gets the sense of how you’re playing. So, I totally understand it hasn’t gone well for me this year. But there’s a lot of hockey left to turn it around, and that’s what I plan on doing.”
Joshua’s individual story this season is not unlike his team’s: More was expected in terms of secondary offence, toughness, and speed.
Joshua was ushered in as a DNA changer. He was supposed to represent a more steeled Leafs identity.
The hope from the coaching staff — which will tweak a winning lineup and throw Joshua back into action Friday against the Washington Capitals — is that he takes this wakeup call to heart.
“I just felt like he needed to get a reset, and sometimes that puts a little more fire in ’em, too,” Berube said.
These decisions aren’t made lightly.
Typically, veterans and new faces get extra leeway before being banished to the press box.
Healthy scratches this early into a long tenure can embarrass not only a player but the executive who brought him in.
But with the Leafs stuck on the sad side of the wild-card line, Berube needs the six-foot-three, 218-pound Joshua to find his identity.
“He’s a big guy that has to be a physical, hard player to play against. And he’s going to make and score his goals around the net, right? So, I think just a little more puck touches in the offensive zone from the forecheck, and then getting to the net front and winning those battles there and tipping pucks,” Berube explained.
“He’s got good hand-eye, and he has the capability of putting the puck in the net. That’s where I see that his game can improve. But it’s about getting there. So, from our zone out, anticipating and being direct. Not only him, but his linemates putting him in a good spot to get on the forecheck or whatever.”
Be a nuisance to the opposition.
“Make it hard,” Berube challenged. “They don’t want to box him out. He’s a big guy. So, I think he can just be more engaged that way.”
A self-confessed slow starter, Joshua agrees there is another level he can reach.
“Just chipping in to control the game more with my linemates,” he said. “Being more connected out there and taking it upon myself to be a guy who drives the play down low and just makes it tougher on the other team.”
OK, so who’s coming out?
William Nylander, who has missed three games this season to injury, missed Thursday’s practice in the name of “maintenance.”
Wednesday’s overtime hero was walking around the rink and appeared in good spirits, interacting with teammates before meeting his old pal Rasmus Sandin for dinner in D.C.
Berube assures Nylander will be good to go.
So, who does Joshua replace?
At practice, Domi and Maccelli (also scratched Wednesday) took turns skating in Nylander’s spot beside John Tavares on the second line and on Toronto’s new-look five-forward power-play.
Both shifty playmakers have struggled lately.
But Domi has never been healthy-scratched as a Maple Leaf, despite his team-worst minus-13 ranking.
“I don’t know if it’s the defensive side of things. I think positionally he’s been solid,” Berube said of Domi. “I know his plus/minus doesn’t say that, but I wouldn’t say positionally that causes a lot of (goals against) for me.
“It’s just getting engaged more in the game. Like, he’s got to get dirty down low in the offensive zone, win battles, and get more engaged that way. And get to the inside of the ice more. That’s what I see. And when he’s skating and moving, he’s an effective player.
“But it’s too inconsistent.”
One-Timers: Defenceman Brandon Carlo was a full participant in practice for the first time since getting injured Nov. 13…. The stitches you noticed on Berube’s forehead are due to a minor, routine procedure the coach underwent this week to get something removed from under the skin. Nothing serious. “Just so you know, I did it without any freezing or anything,” Berube boasts…. The slow-starting Capitals have won five of their past six games…. Berube on Dakota Mermis’s first-period roughing penalty on Zach Aston-Resse, which he disputed in real time: “I thought it was a terrible call. First of all, I know you can’t rip a guy’s helmet off. But that wasn’t intentional. They’re going at it, and (Mermis) got punched twice in the head already. I get it. You want to even it up. That’s fine. But then he’s pulling the guy down, and his helmet comes off. I mean, it’s an accidental play. Just, it was a tough call.”
Maple Leafs practice lines Thursday in D.C.
Knies – Matthews – Robertson
Domi/Maccelli – Tavares – Cowan
Joshua – Roy – McMann
Lorentz – Laughton – Järnkrok
Rielly – Ekman-Larsson
Benoit – McCabe
Mermis – Stecher
Myers – Carlo
