There’s always pressure on players in a hockey-crazed market like Toronto, but when you’re a high draft pick of the Maple Leafs like Nazem Kadri or Morgan Rielly, that pressure increases exponentially.
Head coach Randy Carlyle, however, is looking to temper expectations for the still-developing youngsters this season.
After recording 18 goals and 44 points in 48 games during a breakout campaign last season, Kadri’s stock increased dramatically in the off-season. The 22-year-old still has improvements to make, especially in the defensive zone, and Carlyle acknowledges this.
“Everyone has kind of pushed this kid in a situation where expectations are he’s expected to be our No. 2 centre right away, and I don’t know if that’s really fair to him,” Carlyle told Brady and Walker on Sportsnet 590 The FAN Friday.
“Yes, he’s got all kinds of skill — he’s got world-class skill, he’s a great player. Nobody’s going to take that away from him, but to anoint him as a second-line centre in the NHL after a 48-game schedule, that’s a tough road to hoe for the kid.”
Carlyle added that Kadri is “going to play a lot of minutes” this season and having a guy like David Bolland, who has the ability to go up against the opposition’s top line, should help ease the pressure on Kadri.
Meanwhile, the 19-year-old Rielly, a healthy scratch for the first two games of the season, is expected to make his NHL debut Saturday in the Leafs’ home opener against the Ottawa Senators.
“It’s a situation where he’s earned the opportunity to give us what he’s got,” Carlyle said.
Like he’s doing with Kadri, Carlyle isn’t necessarily expecting the world from Rielly. His advice to the fifth-overall pick from the 2012 NHL Draft is to “do what you do best; don’t try to be something you’re not.… You’ve just got to be conservative. Make the good first pass. Do the things that you do well.”
Rielly played 14 games with the Toronto Marlies in the AHL late last season and performed well in the NHL pre-season this year, but his coach said Saturday’s game will be a different animal.
“He’s played in some intense situations before, but the first (NHL game) will be the most difficult,” Carlyle said. “Things seem to ease out after that.”
