What the Maple Leafs Want to See From Denis Malgin Back in a Top-Six Forward Role

Denis Malgin has had a lot of time to reflect on his how his season has moved along.

After a couple of seasons away in Switzerland, Malgin returned to the Maple Leafs on a one-year contract and earned a spot on the team’s second line to skate alongside John Tavares and and William Nylander.

But after four games in the spot, he found himself sitting as a healthy scratch. He later emerged in a bottom-six forward role and appeared to fit in nicely on a line with Zach Aston-Reese and David Kampf, but that too, fizzled.

But with injuries to Calle Jarnkrok (groin) and Nick Robertson (shoulder), opportunity has knocked once again for Malgin to set his sights on contributing in a bigger role by skating on the second line against the Calgary Flames on Saturday alongside Tavares and Mitch Marner.

“I think I’ve been playing good hockey here and it doesn’t matter what line I was on,” Malgin told SI.com. “I had some opportunities to score more, actually, I feel, that’s how I see it. I just couldn’t score.”

Malgin scored an even-strength goal during Toronto’s season-opening loss to the Montreal Canadiens in October. He posted an expected-goals rate of 75 percent in his second game of the season against the Washington Capitals. But his play dipped in the next two games before he was scratched.

The 25-year-old has two goals and four points in 19 games this season and while there were some positives and has created scoring chances at times, he’s not content with it if it’s not translating on the score sheet.

“If you have the opportunities, you’ll do something right,” Malgin said. “But if you don’t score them it’s not 100 percent right.”

In the meantime, there are things Malgin has learned in the games he has been watching from the press box. He watched how Marner uses his body to protect the puck. 

It’s the defensive side of things that the Leafs want to see from Malgin, or anyone else who occupies that top-six role.

“When you’re playing up there — and even Robertson himself had some struggles with it — matchups are entirely different,” Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said following Friday’s practice. “You have to be able to work without the puck to earn it back so you can have some offense yourself but make sure that the line isn’t spending too much time in its own end, isn’t getting scored on, all of those kind of things.

“For any player trying to find their way in the top-six, that’s one that doesn’t get looked at nearly enough.”

When Jarnkrok was firmly planted into that second-line left wing spot, Keefe appeared to have found a mix that he liked alongside Tavares and Marner. 

Outside of Alex Kerfoot, who has struggled to put up points consistently this season, the Leafs don’t have a lot of options and are hoping that Malgin, who will skate on his off wing on Saturday, can seize the opportinity.

“He’s a guy who is trying to establish himself and it’s gone well at times,” Keefe said of Malgin. “But the consistency is going to make the difference of whether he can, sort of, get to the other side of this in terms of being an everyday player.”