Before practice on Wednesday morning, Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube pulled Max Domi aside for a chat.
Berube did most of the talking for the five minutes or so. When he was done, he tapped Domi on the chest for encouragement.
Domi could use the boost. The Leafs need to find a way to get him going amid a season-long struggle to produce offence.
The 29-year-old has gone 12 straight games without a goal. He has only three goals all season, which came one at a time in three consecutive games in mid-December. Before that, Domi had gone the first 22 games of the season without a goal.
Included in there was a 16-game point drought.
Six of Domi’s 15 points came in the first six games of the season. He has nine in 31 games since, putting him on pace for 30 points in the first season of the four-year deal, with a cap hit of $3.75 million, which he signed days before the start of free agency last summer.
Domi, who missed eight games at one point with an undisclosed injury, has only 12 assists on the year, the same number as Chris Tanev. The team’s starry personnel makes for limited power-play time, the kind that might accentuate his unique passing ability. He has one power-play point all season.
Berube wanted Domi to know that he skated well one night earlier over 16 minutes in a loss to the Stars.
“I thought he was attacking and shooting the puck more, which is good to see,” Berube said.
The Leafs coach spoke with Domi about “staying in battles longer and using his body and physicality a little bit more in our own zone killing plays, and the offensive zone too, winning those battles.”
“He’s a strong guy and he’s got good skill,” Berube said. “I like the way he’s skating right now and he’s gotta keep skating and attacking and shooting and being direct. That was really what we talked about.”
Berube continues to urge Domi to shoot the puck much more than he has — and to do so from in and around the net rather than the perimeter. His pass-first mindset has been tough to break, though: Domi is mustering just under six shots per 60 minutes this season, the lowest mark of his 10-year NHL career.
Of the 110 shots he has attempted, 29 have been blocked and 27 more have missed the net.
What’s been more surprising is the lack of consistent fire and engagement from a player who’s at his best when those elements are bursting through, when he’s in the mix and driving opponents wild with his energy and fearless attitude.
Domi has collected only 11 hits all season. His giveaway rate is tops among Leaf forwards. He feels like a somewhat awkward fit for Berube’s style of play, which prizes low-event hockey, a hard and heavy forecheck and a limited-to-nonexistent rush attack.
Domi did some of his best work offensively last season off the rush and finished among the league leaders in five-on-five assists.
“I think sometimes offensive players when things aren’t going their way — they’re not scoring — they tend to stop working a lot of times,” Berube said, adding that second and third efforts were paramount for not only Domi but the rest of a team that’s struggled to score recently.
“You gotta continue to do that stuff,” Berube said. “You can’t wait for opportunities. You gotta go get ‘em.”
Asked about his performance recently, Domi spoke only in generalities. “We’re all working towards something,” he said. “There’s going to be ups and downs as a whole group. Individually, you just want to try and get better and better every day, whatever that consists of.”
Ultimately, the Leafs are asking Domi to fill a role — that of a top-nine centre — that’s not quite right for him. They know it. It’s the reason Brad Treliving’s front office is admittedly on the hunt for an upgrade in the middle behind Auston Matthews and John Tavares.
When the Leafs initially brought Domi in two summers ago, on a one-year deal, the plan was for him to play the wing. He started this season as the left wing on a line with Tavares and William Nylander before sliding to the middle when Berube quickly realized Pontus Holmberg was over-matched at centre.
The problem: Domi hasn’t flourished there either, what with the added defensive responsibility (the extra skating, the puck battles, the attention to detail) required for the position.
Add a centre via trade before the March 7 trade deadline and Domi will inevitably slide over to the wing, where his defensive responsibilities will decrease.
Berube might well consider the move sooner than that and seek a different solution in the interim, perhaps even pairing Domi with the Leafs’ best player.
Domi played arguably his best hockey last season on Matthews’ right wing. He got the nod there not long after Mitch Marner suffered a high-ankle sprain in March and sizzled with 12 points (including 11 assists) in 13 games. In nearly 150 minutes, Domi and Matthews, paired with Tyler Bertuzzi, hammered teams, winning almost 70 percent of the expected goals. High-danger chances were 48-21 for the Leafs.
Domi and Matthews had real, apparent chemistry.
Which is why then-Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe kept Domi on Matthews’ right wing (instead of Marner) when the playoffs began (before again moving Domi back to the middle when Matthews was unavailable due to injury).
Planting Domi back on Matthews’ line again feels like the way to go here at some point soon, if only to produce a spark for Domi. (Additionally, the Leafs could work to boost his power-play time somehow.) Berube gave it a brief look when the Leafs were already down and out against Dallas, but hasn’t explored it all otherwise.
Move Domi back to the wing and the Leafs coach would need to come up with a temporary option in the middle of a third line. He could promote David Kämpf for the time being — until, that is, Treliving is able to address the need through trade. (Keefe used Holmberg as the 3C when he moved Domi up last spring.)
Such a move obviously won’t be tenable if Tavares is sidelined after a concerning departure from practice on Wednesday. A Tavares absence might force Domi to play an even larger role for the Leafs.
He can play better. He can play with more fire and physicality. He can shoot the puck more often, attack the net, create his own luck, just as Berube would like.
But the Leafs can also (and soon will) put him in a better position to succeed.
