Maple Leafs head coach Mike Babcock is a big supporter of the rookies in his lineup, utilizing more first-year players than pretty much at any time in his NHL career.

With seven in Leafs uniforms most nights, more than a third of the team’s skaters are freshmen in the league, which could lead to some challenges moving forward.

While some of the young Leafs have had the benefit of full seasons in the American Hockey League, others are about to find out how the NHL season can turn into a grind in the way that major junior hockey or the Swiss league does not.



“There’s no room, so you have to learn how to play with no room,” Babcock said of the style of hockey that awaits. “The other leagues you played in, you had the puck all the time and there was lots of room and it was lots of fun.



“They’re going to wonder what happened to the game. It used to be fun, now it’s a grind. That’s the NHL.”



FRONT AND CENTRE



From Day 1 of the season, Babcock hasn’t wavered about employing rookie Auston Matthews as a centre.



While many teams let centre prospects get their feet wet on the wing, Babcock has had the luxury of developing Matthews at his own pace. And then there’s another reason.



“I don’t have another centre, so that’s part of it,” Babcock said. “But I just feel he’s more than capable. I’ve seen him a lot as a kid and watched him at the (world championship) and I think he’s very capable.



“Does he have things to work on like all young players? Absolutely.”



Matthews certainly caught the attention of the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday with a dominating first period in which he scored twice and added an assist.

“He’s a tremendous player,” New Jersey winger Mike Cammallerisaid. “I heard rumours all day about him being in a scoring slump and that’s a cardinal sin. It was like, ‘Uh-oh, we know how this movie ends.’”



QUICK HITS



After his team’s fourth back-to-back stint of the season, Babcock gave the Leafs an off day on Thursday. The players will return to practice on Friday at the MasterCard Centre to prepare for their home date Saturday against Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals … Matthews is in a three-way tie for the team lead in goals. Joining the rookie at eight are James van Riemsdyk and Nazem Kadri… The Leafs have scored first in six of their last seven games … Things Babcock likes: WilliamNylanderon the power play. The rookie’s assist on Kadri’s first-period goal was his ninth point on the power play this season. The coach also seems fond of ConnorBrownplaying on a line with Matthews and Zach Hyman. Hyman had a pair of assists on Wednesday night against the Devils for the second multi-point game of his career … Saturday will be the first Marlies/Leafs double bill at the Air Canada Centre with the AHL team facing the Utica Comets at 1:30 followed by the Leafs and Capitals at 7 p.m. … From the TSN stats department, the Leafs are 1-5-3 in the road and of the four overtime or shootout losses, they had three period leads in each and multi-goal leads at some point of the game in three of the four.