Leafs notes: Lorentz now the one on Hockey Night In Canada

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Steven Lorentz is definitely allowed to stay up late for Maple Leafs games now.

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Upon signing a one-year deal with Toronto on Monday, cementing his move to the team he grew up watching with his father, Mark, in his Waterloo home years ago, Steven’s first thought was staring up at the TV with his parents as a kid. 

“Mom put me to bed sometimes and maybe I’d sneak back down and Dad wouldn’t say anything,” Lorentz said. “Just one more period and at second intermission I’d probably have to go back up to bed.”     

The 28-year-old, who won a Stanley Cup in Florida last season, was already receiving congratulatory messages from his hometown early Monday. 

 “I wouldn’t be here without (the support) of a lot of those people. To share it with them is really special. I’m excited for the official Game 1 (Wednesday in Montreal)  to pull that jersey over my head.” 

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NOT A CENTRE OF ATTENTION 

Having professed his wish for a longer look at centre from head coach Craig Berube at the start of camp, William Nylander had to do some stickhandling around the question the past couple of days.  

Berube is not making it a full-time switch, at least to start the season, and Nylander continues to practice on right wing with centre John Tavares and Max Domi. 

“Position is no big deal, you want me to play centre, I’ll play centre,” Nylander said. “It doesn’t matter. It’s such a big conversation for you guys, I guess.  

“I got some reps in. If that were to happen, let’s say I was playing (in Montreal), Chief would say: ‘Okay. we’re going to give you centre today’ and I’d have a practice to get into it. I know a little bit more about what the position entails now and the system stuff.” 

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Nylander does know one thing about the whole exercise.  

“I feel like this training camp has gone on forever,” he quipped. 

SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES 

Berube said that the team’s practice on Tuesday, before the flight to Quebec, would involve more work on special teams.  

While assistant Lane Lambert has made inroads with new penalty killing drills and Toronto was 24 of 25 to lead all teams in pre-season, the power play still over-passes, an old issue. 

Marc Savard inherits one of the most potent first groups in the league with Nylander, Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares and Morgan Rielly, who were a disastrous 1-for-21 in the Boston series. 

“A lot of good things (in camp), but I think we can be more direct and more shot-based,” Berube said of both units. “There were times we could’ve shot and hunted rebounds down, things like that. 

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“But these guys have been at it quite a long time here with a good power play and had lots of success. We’ll keep banging away at it.” 

OLD HAB-ITS DIE HARD 

Now that Max Pacioretty is a Leaf, he can turn his attention to a most unusual return to Montreal, just the third former captain of the Canadiens to play for the Leafs. George Hainsworth and Kirk Muller were the others. 

Despite expressing his enduring love for the city, Pacioretty often gets a rough reception at the Bell Centre with fans still upset about his decision to move on after a decade, with a trade to the Vegas Golden Knights. He’ll be wearing his familiar No. 67, too.  

“A lot of people have talked about it and asked me,” Pacioretty said of Wednesday. “It means a lot because I’ll see friends, but it’s just another game to get ready for a long season. 

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“You’re trying to set the tone for the season, but not let my emotions get too high or too low. I don’t want to speculate (about the fans), but I have a lot of good memories, I’ll say ‘hi’ to a lot of people. But it’s definitely different then when I first went back, a lot of turnover there.” 

LOOSE LEAFS 

Forward Easton Cowan’s return to the London Knights on Monday is good news for their OHL repeat title bid and for Canada’s world junior team … Ryan Reaves was seen after practice giving inexperienced Philippe Myers some pointers on fighting, just in case. The 6-foot-6 native of Moncton, N.B., has not been in a regular season NHL scrap, though he took on Josh Anderson of the Habs in an exhibition game … Jake Muzzin has officially joined the Leafs’ player development staff after some work in that area the past year. The retired defenceman was frequently seen during training camp … As part of other hockey office changes confirmed Monday, Jason Taylor has been hired as a pro scout, Scott Carter as a pro and amateur scout, and Jerrod Smith as an amateur scout. Carter was with the Leafs before leaving in 2015 to become GM of the WHL Spokane Chiefs. 

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