Brophy on Leafs: An unlikely hero
Posted January 24, 2012 9:37 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The conversation may have gone something like this:
“You want Franson? You can have him…as long as you take Lombardi, too.”
Gulp!
“Okay, you…you…you’ve got a deal.”
It’s not that the Toronto Maple Leafs didn’t appreciate what Matthew Lombardi had achieved as an NHLer, but in a salary cap world, taking on two years at $3.5 million a season for a guy who played just two games with the Nashville Predators last season because of a serious concussion, well, you can understand any hesitation GM Brian Burke’s may have had. Assuming that’s how things went down, of course.
Lombardi was what is politely referred to as a ‘throw-in’ when the Leafs acquired
defenceman Cody Franson from the Predators last July for Brett Lebda and Robert Slaney; neither of whom has seen action with Nashville this season.
Lombardi, 29, missed most of training camp, but did score in the first game of the year and it looked like the affects of a serious head injury were behind him. However, his progress has been slow and he has rarely looked like the speedster that scored 20 goals and 46 points in his third NHL season with the Calgary Flames who chose him 90th overall in 2002.
Until recently, that is.
With Leafs coach Ron Wilson shuffling his line in search for more effective combinations, Lombardi found himself playing left wing on a until featuring Tim Connolly at centre and Nazem Kadri on right wing. It’s kind of a weird trio from the perspective Connolly was supposed to be the team’s No. 1 centre, but hasn’t made the grade; Lombardi hasn’t put up numbers that would justify him playing on the team’s second unit and Kadri is still trying to prove he’s ready for full-time NHL employment.
And yet it’s working. With two goals against the New York Islanders in a 3-0 victory Monday night, Lombardi now has four goals in his past four games. He is justifying the coach’s faith in his ability to step it up.
“He’s skating really well,” Wilson said, drawing attention to Lombardi’s most obvious asset. “I mean, in the past he’s scored 20 goals in a season. People have had high hopes for him.”
Sometimes as a coach, you play a hunch. That is exactly what Wilson did when he thrust Lombardi into more of an offensive role with the Maple Leafs.
“I just had this sense; you could see it coming,” Wilson said. “He was strong around the puck; he was confident holding onto it and I thought pucks were going to start going in for him. That’s the sense – the gut feeling you have as a coach – and I could see it coming. That’s real positive as we go forward. I’ve got another weapon and he’s feeling good about himself.”
Lombardi was one of the NHL’s most prolific skaters prior who seemed to be finding his offence to his concussion. Since returning, he has been a work in progress. There are nights when it appears his game is back, but then there are other times when his hard work doesn’t pay off and you wonder if he’ll ever get back to being a scoring threat. To have this little offensive outburst certainly gives the confidence a boost.
“I felt like I was getting better,” Lombardi said. “It was obviously frustrating to be getting chances and not be able to put the puck in, but getting the opportunity to play with Tim Connolly and Nazem Kadri is good. I’m just trying to take advantage of it.”
An opportunity is all Lombardi wanted when he was traded to the Leafs. The Nashville experience won’t take up a major portion of his autobiography, should he decided to write his memoirs, but he is hoping his days in the hockey capital of the universe will provide better reading.
“The bottom line is I came here and the first thing Brian Burke said to me was the Leafs were glad to have me and they were going to give me the time I needed (to get better),” Lombardi said. “That was what was important to me.”
In a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately world, a year away from the game could be terminal to a blossoming career. Professional sports history is riddled with players who were on the verge of making it big-time only to have their career derailed by an injury. Lombardi went through a lot of uncertainly in the year he had off and finding his game was kind of like a kid trying to find Waldo.
“Honestly, it took a while for me to get comfortable out there,” Lombardi admitted. “I just didn’t have my feet…my hands weren’t there. You think you’ll just come back and your game will get right back to where it was. It didn’t work that way. But you have to stick with it.”
As for the Leafs, the win over the Islanders leaves them in a tie – points-wise, at least – with the eight place Winnipeg Jets in the Eastern Conference. Toronto plays a rematch with the Islanders in Long Island Tuesday and winning goalie Jonas Gustavsson is expected to get the start. The Monster has six wins in his last nine games and three of those have been shutouts.
