Mike Komisarek #8 of the Toronto Maple Leafs shoots during warm-ups before a pre-season NHL game at the Air Canada Centre on September 22, 2009 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada . (Photo by Abelimages/Getty Images)Abelimages/Getty Images
A quick look at the ice time for the Leafs defence last night is a pretty good idea of who Ron Wilson intends to lean on in the early going:
T. Kaberle 23:55 D. Phaneuf 23:45 F. Beauchemin 22:21 L. Schenn 21:36 C. Gunnarsson 17:33 M. Komisarek 12:08
Asked if he minded that his ice time was seriously curtailed, with only five shifts and 2:36 in the third period, Komisarek said no.
"It's one game," he said.
Wilson said Friday that he plans on working Komisarek into the lineup slowly, however, watching his minutes as he makes his return from shoulder surgery. Thursday's 3-2 win was Komisarek's first regular-season action since Jan. 2, but he didn't play well in preseason and was bumped off a pairing with Kaberle.
"He's going to be a work in progress to get him up to speed," Wilson said. "He didn't play very much last year and he didn't play very much within our system so his ice time wasn't a lot last night because other guys are playing a little bit better. And that's the way it's going to be.
"This isn't a democracy where each defenceman's going to play 20 minutes. Who's playing best will get more ice time and that'll be a moving target every night. My job as a coach is to identify that -- the first five to 10 minutes of the game, who's on, who's not and adjust accordingly."
Here's Komisarek with more thoughts on where he's at in terms of his game. He has said multiple times his strength, etc., in his shoulder is fully there, so that's not part of the issue.
"Last year I think I would have dwelled on mistakes a little bit more," he said. "This year, you think about what you could do differently and move on. We did a lot more positive things last night than a few mistakes here and there.
"It's a long year, right? It's one game, it's a couple shifts, we won the game. You move on. You know you're going to get better next game and take it from there. Don't get down on yourself for a mistake."
Notebook
- JS Giguere will start Saturday against Ottawa.
- Colby Armstrong wasn't on the ice in practice but is expected to play against the Sens. "He blocked a shot and he's fine," Wilson said. "Just did some off-ice stuff today. We didn't want to stress his foot in his boot so he'll be ready for tomorrow."
- Injured defenceman Brett Lebda (shoulder) skated and Wilson said he expects him to be ready "within the week."
- Wilson praised Schenn's play in Game 1 and expects a lot from him in his third NHL season. "The way we've handled him the first two years is enabling him to start to become the defenceman that we thought we drafted," Wilson said.
- Wilson also continues to offer slight digs to former netminder Vesa Toskala. Here he was today on Giguere's terrific first game: "It's nice to feel comfortable and not lose sleep over who's starting or who's going to play or can we get through the first five minutes without a soft goal," Wilson said. "I think those are things we're not worrying about now. We worry about other things."