Simon Benoit struggles with unexpected reserve role on Leafs defence

‘If you’re happy to be sitting out, I don’t think you’re in the right sport’

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Simon Benoit’s scowl said it all.

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Before the question was finished being asked, the tattoos on his bicep scrunched up in tension when a reporter wondered how hard it was to sit out a game in his hometown of Montreal on Saturday.

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“If you’re happy to be sitting out, I don’t think you’re in the right sport,” said the Maple Leafs defenceman, who has become a dressing room and crowd favourite for his pluck in battling from the fringe of the roster to a regular role. “I’m not happy, but I understand it’s part of the game and I will do my best to get back in there.”

The game-changer for Benoit was the run-up to the trade deadline when the Leafs added Ilya Lyubushkin and Joel Edmundson to the back end. The latter was paired with Timothy Liljegren as the club made it clear it wants the former first-round pick to snap out of his funk, brought on in part by an injury-plagued season.

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The casualty was Benoit, erased from the lineup for a game in front of family and friends he’d circled for weeks. And at Wednesday’s practice, he was still with the blueline’s odd men out, Conor Timmins and Mark Giordano, while Liljegren got more rope with Edmundson to fix his game.

The left-shooting Benoit has been further marginalized by Liljegren being one of the few defencemen available on the team shooting right.

Coach Sheldon Keefe spoke to Benoit privately before Saturday’s game and was frank with the media about how it “killed” him to put Benoit in the Bell Centre press box.

Benoit did show a little humour about it on Wednesday, saying he’ll be more careful about buying tickets when the Leafs go back to Montreal on April 6.

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“That (talk with Keefe) is between me and him,” Benoit said. “And for the rest, I have no control how things are going, I can only control how I play. I know I’ll be back in the lineup and I’ll be ready.

“There are a couple of new faces, we’re trying to get to know everyone. We know (post-deadline) that this is our team the rest of the year now and for the playoffs.

“It’s not my first rodeo. (Healthy scratches) have been through my whole career (with Anaheim). You sit and cry about it or you go back to work. Right now, it’s given me time to touch up some stuff and be ready for the playoffs or whenever they need me.”

Meanwhile, right winger Mitch Marner’s ongoing absence with a lower body injury has seen a few adjustments up front.
Keefe made it clear after the 3-2 win in Montreal that the re-jigged Auston Matthews first line — with William Nylander in for Marner and Tyler Bertuzzi taking the place of Matthew Knies — was underwhelming, so at practice Calle Jarnkrok bumped Nylander back to the right side with John Tavares. Jarnkrok also took Marner’s spot on the top power play unit which Bertuzzi held on Saturday.

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“Of course, you’d like to solidify some things, but this time of year brings different (challenges),” Keefe said. “Right now, it’s Mitch’s injury that changes our team dramatically.

Keefe is keen on re-igniting Tavares with Nylander and Max Domi, who moved from the centre back to left wing. Domi was getting offensive results in the middle, but there was concern about his checking ability.

“I don’t want to over-think what happened in Montreal,” Keefe said. “It’s a little more about getting John and Will together and having Auston and Will on two different lines.”

Matthews’ run to 70 goals has hit a speed bump with just one in his past five games. It’s hoped with a few calls against the usually belligerent Flyers that the Toronto power play finds it way out of its recent funk.

Assistant coach Guy Boucher worked the special teams hard on Wednesday, including the second power-play unit with Liljegren on defence, Domi, Knies, Bertuzzi and Bobby McMann up front.

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