Toronto Maple Leafs recall red-hot Alex Steeves from Marlies

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Ahead of their first practice coming out of the 4 Nations Face-Off break, the Maple Leafs recalled Alex Steeves.
For good reason.

The Toronto Marlies forward has been tearing up the American Hockey League.

Not only does Steeves lead the AHL with 29 goals in 40 games, he’s third in scoring with 46 points, two behind league leader Andrew Poturalski of San Jose. Steeves also is tied for the AHL lead in power-play goals with 11.

At Leafs practice on Tuesday at the Ford Performance Centre, Steeves skated on a line with Calle Jarnkrok, who is working his way back from groin and sports hernia surgery, and Matthew Knies.

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Whether Steeves gets a shot with the Leafs once play for Toronto resumes on Saturday against the Carolina Hurricanes remains to be seen, but the 25-year-old has a good grip on his mindset either way.

“It’s not thinking about it too much,” Steeves said. “Wherever I get slotted in or whatever it may be, the bottom line is, I’m here to help the team win games if they need me.

“I’m not reading into being perfect or anything like that, or what type of role you should play. Nobody knows the best version of my game better than myself, and having confidence in that.

“I would definitely say early in my career, maybe I’d wait for the phone to ring. Now I’ve got to the point where I’m mainly thinking about wherever I am, what can I do to be my best every day and everything else will be a byproduct after that. (There’s) perspective and maturity to be where your feet are.”
In the AHL, Steeves has been a consistent scorer and has become the Marlies’ career leader in goals and points.

Despite the production, Steeves has played in just 11 games with the Leafs, including four earlier this season. He has one career assist in the National Hockey League.
What does Steeves have to do to stick with the Leafs? He will be a Group 6 unrestricted free agent this summer.

“That’s good question,” Leafs coach Craig Berube said. “Opportunity is everything and situation is everything for a lot of players.

“He probably needs a good opportunity and a good situation. That might happen here. We don’t know that right now. We are where we are, and we’ll see how it goes. He has played some games this year with us, and has been a pretty effective player for us up here with limited ice time.

“Steeves has been lights out down there (with the Marlies).”

tkoshan@postmedia.com

X: @koshtorontosun