Toronto

Leo Komarov is a lot like his hockey skates. Sharp. Unusual. Old-fashioned. Impossible to duplicate.

He is part-player, part-mascot, part curiosity with the Maple Leafs, a dependable piece of a team that doesn’t always comprehend dependable. He speaks five languages — mumbling in all of them, Randy Carlyle says — plays piano, has a rather basic philosophy to life and his career.

“Don’t f--- around,” he said Tuesday after practice, where there was actually a lineup to interview the suddenly popular Maple Leaf.

Komarov is no pretty boy, nothing at all like today’s entitled athletes. He wears the least-expensive skates in the NHL. Graf doesn’t make his model anymore. He bought 10 pairs when they were last available. “I think I have five or six left,” he said. “I hope they last a long time. I like them. They’re cheap. I paid around 150 Euros a pair.”

That’s $211 Canadian as of yesterday’s exchange rates. “They’re a heavy skate, but I like them.”

Until Tuesday, and probably for the time being, he was wearing Phil Kessel’s gloves. The gloves he ordered before the season arrived improperly sized. The new gloves finally came yesterday. Just about nobody in the NHL would be happy with someone else’s gloves and house-league skates, but that’s quintessential Komarov. A nobody becoming a somebody in Toronto, a town that forever applauds and admires unlikely effort.

Komarov grew up in a small town called Uusikaupunki, son of a Russian pro-hockey player who played second division in Finland and stayed there. There were no outdoor rinks in Uusikaupunki. He doesn’t think he played an indoor hockey game until he was 16 and didn’t suspect as a kid he had the kind of talent to play in the NHL.

“When I was 17, I had 11 points in junior hockey,” he said. “I knew with the skills I had, I’m not going to make it.

“The coaches told me — you need to change your style to make this team. I couldn’t play top lines. I just starting hitting people. That’s all I did. And I liked it. It’s easy to hit people.”

His problem, though, was he was tiny. He weighed 145 pounds. He frightened no one.

“I was a small guy,” he said. “I started working out. And I really worked hard at it. In about three months I was up to 80 kilos (176 pounds). It’s hard to improve your skills on the fourth line. It was way easier to hit people. So that’s where this (his game) comes from.”

It isn’t just hitting that the rather-squat, almost 200-pound Komarov does for the Leafs. He is their best penalty killer. He has terrific instincts for where the puck is going. He is their most responsible defensive forward. And here’s what makes no sense to date: He is second behind Kessel on the team in assists with nine, has more assists than any of the Leafs centres, and is tied with a couple of guys around the league named Tyler Seguin and John Tavares.

The offence can’t possibly last. It isn’t logical: But the defensive play, his puck management, his on-ice presence should sustain themselves. He is first among NHL forwards in takeaways, 521st in giveaways and third in hits for a forward. A year ago, no Leaf finished in the top 44 in hits or takeaways. Komarov makes the Leafs better every time he’s on the ice.

“He’s a rock,” said Stephane Robidas, the Leafs veteran, who was unfamiliar with Komarov before this season. “He never gives up, he’s relentless and he’ll do anything to win. Opponents hate playing against him.

“He’s always in the right position, he’s very smart, he knows what he has to do and he’s willing to do it. He never complains. And he’s a funny guy to be around, super nice, no ego.

“And I’ll tell you one other thing: He’s very strong. You can’t knock him off the puck, and when he hits someone, they feel it.”

The praise isn’t something Komarov is used to or necessarily comfortable with. He relishes being the little guy. But there’s something in him, in his game, that makes him a difference-maker. He didn’t score a point at the Winter Olympics in Sochi, but was used in all key situations on Team Finland and wore an “A” on his jersey with pride alongside captain Teemu Selanne and alternate Kimmo Timonen.

His bronze medal from Sochi is at his Finnish home, along with a gold and silver from the world championships and a bronze from the world junior tournament to go along with his two KHL championships from Russia. Komarov is used to team success, which makes his decision to sign back in Toronto this season all the more baffling. It’s something he’d rather not address other than to say he loves Toronto and loves being a Maple Leaf.

What he is not yet aware of is his growing popularity. He isn’t just a spare part anymore. From the city that adored Matt Bonner and John McDonald, Jerome Williams and Tie Domi, there is now a place for the almost mistake-free Komarov.

“I’m human,” said Komarov. “I do mistakes. I’m playing on a low line. I just try and keep it simple. That’s all I do.”

That and hit somebody.

steve.simmons@sunmedia.ca

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