Maple Leafs targeting Noel Acciari for months: ‘It’s better to be on their side’

TORONTO – It took seven months longer than hoped, but Kyle Dubas got his man.

Efforts to lure Noel Acciari north and inject the Rhode Island native’s rugged reliability into the Toronto Maple Leafs’ fourth line stretch back to July, when GM Dubas courted Acciari as a free agent.

“Yeah, we were talking,” Acciari said. “There was always a possibility that I’d be a Maple Leaf, and here I am now.”

Term wasn’t an issue, but price was a factor when Acciari weighed his July 13 options.

The St. Louis Blues came to terms with Acciari on a one-year, $1.25-million pact.

Dubas filled his need with the less-expensive Nicolas Aubé-Kubel ($1 million) and Zach Aston-Reese ($840,630).

Well, you get what you pay for.

And Leafs Nation need only see a few games of Acciari in blue and white to get excited about the multiple benefits he ushers into a previously unstable bottom six.

Since being traded to Toronto Friday alongside Ryan O’Reilly and slipping on his new sweater, the 31-year-old has led the Leafs with 13 hits. Despite skating just an average of 13:53 per night, he has fired seven pucks on net, and he scored in just his second game for Toronto.

“Felt great to get it out of the way early,” Acciari said.

Acciari’s takeaway-to-giveaway ratio this season is phenomenal (26-7), and Toronto has gone a perfect 5-on-5 on the penalty kill since he joined the 4-on-5 unit.

True, the competition (Montreal, Chicago, Buffalo) has been subpar, but the eye test and numerical data scream improvement.

“He is just a reliable and responsible player on both sides of the puck,” raved coach Sheldon Keefe. “He plays a very hard and simple offensive game, and yet he plays with confidence and poise with his head up to make a play.

“Defensively, he is in good spots. He has an incredible defensive stick. He is just really heavy and hard on the puck. When he pushes on you or leans on you, you stop generally. Very, very encouraged with what we have seen from him.”

It will be no surprise to learn Acciari won Hockey East’s defensive forward of the year honours in 2014-15, his final season for Providence College before signing, undrafted, with the Boston Bruins.

He didn’t need so much as a full season with AHL Providence before making the jump to the big club and giving NHL breakouts fits with his forecheck and disruptive stick.

Both Acciari’s style of play and his 54 games of Atlantic Division playoff experience with Florida and Boston lend well to Toronto’s mission come April.

“Oh, he’s a hard guy to play against,” defenceman Mark Giordano assured. “Really finishes every check. On the body a lot. He’s one guy, for sure, when he’s out there, you know he's out there.

“Extremely hard to play against.”

In other words, Acciari fits the balance that the skill-first Maple Leafs, increasingly, are aspiring to achieve.

“Seems like he brings it every single night,” Leafs winger Mitch Marner said. “When he’s getting on the forecheck, he’s taking the body and trying to separate the man from the puck. It’s been pretty clear here that he's coming in with a lot of energy, a lot of pace. He's bringing a lot to our kill.”

That energy is predominantly fueled by cookies.

Acciari pounds so many of the baked treats, Keith Yandle dubbed him “Cookie” during their Panthers tenure. When he arrived in Florida, Acciari was a tad perturbed that the team did not make his favourite treat readily available as part of the pre-game meal. Yandle helped remedy the situation but never let Acciari forget it.

The nickname has stuck with the fourth-line monster through St. Louis to Toronto.

When it came time for O’Reilly to pass the player-of-the-game wrestling belt after Tuesday’s dominant win in Buffalo, he acknowledged linemates Marner and John Tavares, before turning to his trade-mate.

“This goes to the guy who finished every check. Always does it,” O’Reilly said, addressing the dressing room. “You guys will get used to it... Cookie.”

Cookie’s family finds itself in a bit of a, um, crunch.

After the trade weekend’s whirlwind back-to-back, Acciari spent much of Monday trying to manoeuvre wife Kaitlyn and their two young children, two-and-a-half-year-old son Greyson and 10-month-old daughter Sutton, across the border.

Noel and Greyson share Oreos before the player takes his game-day nap, even if the ritual requires FaceTime. "Cookie time," they call it.

Sutton needs a passport — “That’s kind of an issue,” her dad says — so Acciari and the Maple Leafs are doing their best to expedite the process and move them up.

That won't happen until Acciari and the Leafs return from next week's long road trip out west.

In the meantime, it’s not lost on Noel that Kaitlyn is the one juggling two under three.

“She’s unbelievable. I don’t know how she does what she does. But that’s why moms are so special. They just do everything. You don’t realize it until you see it firsthand,” Acciari said.

As a former Bruin and Panther, Acciari arrives with firsthand experience of facing the Tampa Bay Lightning, Toronto’s certain Round 1 opponent, in the playoffs. And in 2108 and 2019, Acciari played a role in Boston’s epic seven-game defeats of the Maple Leafs.

What was Acciari’s perspective on the Leafs before joining them?

“They’re a high-powered offence,” he said. “Just watching some of these guys, being able to play against them for so long, work on their defensive game and how that’s gotten so much better for these guys, it’s been great to see.

“It’s better to be on their side than chasing them around.”

After three decades of U.S. hockey, Acciari wasn’t sure he’d ever play for one of Canada’s great hopes. But, as his in-your-face, drive-the-paint play shows, he’s fully embracing it.

“Anything’s possible, and I’m here. But it’s unbelievable,” Acciari said.

“There’s one goal in mind in this locker room — and we want to be a part of that.”

One-Timers: Rasmus Sandin, who sat out the Leafs’ two-game road trip with a minor injury, might need one more game off before returning to the lineup. If Sandin gets the green light, Conor Timmins will return to the press box Friday versus Minnesota.... The Wild will arrive in town from Columbus on a back-to-back. Starter Filip Gustavsson (15-8-2, .928) has better numbers than Marc-André Fleury this season.... Although Jake Muzzin (spine) has been officially ruled out for the remainder of the season, the respected D-man continues to travel and work out with his teammates. He's still around to offer wisdom.... Joey Anderson cleared waivers and will return to the Marlies.

Maple Leafs projected lines Friday vs. Minnesota Wild

Bunting – Matthews – Nylander

Tavares – O’Reilly – Marner

Engvall – Kämpf – Järnkrok

Aston-Reese – Acciari – Kerfoot

Rielly – Brodie

Giordano – Liljegren

Sandin – Holl

Samsonov

Woll