Conor Timmins was with the Tucson Roadrunners in San Diego last month when he was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Curtis Douglas. The 24-year-old arrived in chilly Toronto from sunny California with little to wear.
His one suitcase was stuffed mostly with warm-weather gear — shorts, flip-flops, t-shirts, etc. The Leafs supplied him with a team-branded tracksuit, but Timmins needed more. So, his parents happily flew down to his place in Arizona from Niagara, where they live, to grab him some clothes.
Timmins is currently living in a Toronto hotel.
“It’s been kinda crazy,” Timmins said in the immediate aftermath of his trade from the Coyotes. “It’s been crazy, but really exciting too.”
Exciting because Timmins is — finally — getting a chance to play some NHL games.
Timmins was the first pick of the second round — 32nd to the Avalanche — in the same 2017 draft as Timothy Liljegren. But because of injuries, mostly, he’d played a grand total of 41 NHL games before the trade — and more remarkably, just 52 games in the AHL.
Add in 12 playoff games for the Avalanche and that’s just over 100 games, period, for Timmins after finishing up with the Soo Greyhounds in 2018.
“I think I’ve had a tough go with injuries, but I’ve put all that behind me,” said Timmins, who missed the entire 2018-19 season because of a concussion. “I haven’t got to develop as much as I’d like, but I think I’m still happy with where I’m at right now in my game and I’m excited for the future.”
Timmins has made an immediate impact with the Leafs, posting six assists in his first six games. And while his addition has helped the team in the short term, with Morgan Rielly, Jake Muzzin, Carl Dahlstrom, and Jordie Benn all sidelined, Timmins is most intriguing as a “future play, big time” as GM Kyle Dubas put it.
He’s someone Dubas is obviously very familiar with: In his last days running the Greyhounds, Dubas took Timmins with the 79th pick in the 2014 OHL draft. Timmins remembers attending Sheldon Keefe-led training camps in the Soo and played there alongside Rasmus Sandin and Mac Hollowell.
As a result, he was instantly familiar with the way the Leafs like to play.
“There’s definitely certain nuances that change,” he said. “But it’s a lot of the same foundations, so I think I have a good foundation to build upon.”
Keefe’s style, he says, “fits my game really well.”
How so? “I think just me being a puck-moving defenseman and having an offensive-minded game,” Timmins said.
It’s the offensive stuff with Timmins that’s most interesting.
There’s some good fortune to that early pile of assists. But clearly, Timmins has some instincts on that side of things, a feel for the game and a feel for when and where to best deliver a puck.
Like this dish to David Kämpf flashing through the middle of the ice:
There’s a soft touch to the way Timmins moves it. He knows how to catch his teammates in stride:
Timmins says he’s always “seen the game pretty well” and owes those smarts to the way he was taught the game growing up. Specifically his dad, Dan, who coached him right up until he started playing for the Greyhounds.
“He just always taught me to play smart,” Timmins said. “And I think when I went to the Soo, they were just so heavily focused on puck possession and not dumping the puck in. You learn how to make plays and find open guys. That was big for me.”
Timmins admired Duncan Keith as a kid, watching closely as Keith dominated Chicago’s three Stanley Cup runs. He adored Keith’s competitiveness as a defender, how aggressively he used his stick in defending, the way he relied on skating and positioning, more than physicality, to win pucks back.
Timmins also took notes on how Keith moved the puck and was able to gobble down huge minutes.
It’s early, but Timmins has fared well on the defensive front so far, particularly when he’s had defensive guru TJ Brodie by his side.
Timmins doesn’t play all that physically, but he is 6-foot-2 and about 200 pounds and takes up a fair bit of space in his own zone, including in front of the net. As Victor Mete, his one-time defensive partner with Team Canada at the world juniors, notes, “He’s got a good stick.”
That’s evident when Timmins extends it all the way out to deny foes entry into the Leafs’ zone, or get it in lanes to break up passes.
Timmins relies on those smarts as a defender. He admires the way Mark Giordano reads plays before they happen and gets himself in the right spots.
That’s a focus for him as he adapts to the NHL game.
Timmins was particularly excited to work with the Leafs’ extensive skill development team after the trade to Toronto.
So far there’s been a clear emphasis on his skating; Timmins’ feet can be a tad heavy.
“We’re just trying to get me lighter on my feet,” he said.
As much as he can help them in the interim this season, Timmins’ long-term prospects are more meaningful to the Leafs.
After this season, Justin Holl, another right shot, is due to become an unrestricted free agent. Muzzin’s long-term future is obviously in question. His contract also expires after next season. So does TJ Brodie’s. And Giordano’s for that matter. Peer down the line a bit and it’s easy to imagine Timmins playing on a blue line that includes Rielly, Rasmus Sandin, and Timothy Liljegren.
Timmins will need a new contract after this season. But as a restricted free agent with no arbitration rights and few games played, his cost will be low. (Do the Leafs attempt to sign him to a multi-year deal?)
Timmins was a highly coveted prospect not all that long ago. He was a key part of the trade that sent Darcy Kuemper to Colorado. The Leafs bought low on a distressed asset that way.
(Mark Blinch / NHLI via Getty Images)
It’s hard to see much downside to the acquisition. Losing Timmins to waivers is one such possibility, were his roster spot ever needed for some reason. But with their injuries, the Leafs can probably avoid that.
When the Leafs are healthy (Muzzin aside), Timmins figures to be the seventh man on the depth chart — behind Rielly, Brodie, Sandin, Liljegren, Giordano and Holl. But again, the Leafs were adding him more for the future.
In the meantime, they’ll offer him the kind of games and minutes and development he wasn’t getting anywhere else.
Timmins has logged more than 18 minutes in each of his last three games, including 22-plus minutes in New York last week when the Leafs were short Liljegren for the third period.
That includes a role on the No. 2 power-play units.
Timmins played almost no part on the power play in his first two NHL stops.
The big question with Timmins, of course, remains whether he can stay on the ice. From there, it’s a question of growth.
“I think I’m an NHL defenseman,” Timmins said. “And I’m just excited to prove that and grow my game and continue to develop. I think I’m still pretty young for a defenseman, so I think there’s just a lot of room left for growth and I’m really excited about that.”
(Top photo: Mark Blinch / NHLI via Getty Images)
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