TORONTO — One month into this Toronto Maple Leafs’ campaign, there’s one truth that’s been undeniable.
It’s been clear since mid-September, when this group convened for the start of training camp, and for those of us around the team regularly, it’s been reinforced daily since: for all the on-ice issues that might remain, the roster shortcomings that still need addressing, there is no doubting that off the ice, in the room, there’s a different feeling around these Maple Leafs this season. A different energy.
A summer of sweeping change will do that. Rewind through the previous few years of tumult in Toronto and you find a group that wasn’t granted a real chance to break free of its scars the way this year’s blank-slate squad has — 2023-24 brought a new general manager in Brad Treliving, but the return of head coach Sheldon Keefe; 2024-25 brought a new head coach in Craig Berube, but with Treliving still at the helm; 2025-26 saw the organization part ways with president Brendan Shanahan, but with Berube and Treliving running it back.
But this year’s group — with half its roster turned over, a new coaching staff leading its bench, and a new front office bringing to life a new vision — seems more novel, more untethered from Toronto’s past pain than anyone expected coming into the season.
You could feel it on the morning of the season opener, at the dawn of this new campaign, fresh off the team’s trip to captain Auston Matthews’ home state. By that point, the new recruits had been in the city for weeks, working at trying to establish some genuine bonds with the returning Maple Leafs vets before the daily chaos of the season kicked into gear.
“You know, I talked to a couple guys, and they really went out of their way, early, to go golfing, to have dinners — they felt like they got a really good foundation that way,” head coach Jim Hiller said in late September, before the season got underway. “But what I’ve been told is that trip to Arizona was worth its weight in gold — the night that they had together with Auston in his house really cemented an early foundation for them.”
The opening few weeks of the season made clear just how much the squad's new characters added to the room — the boisterous Nick Paul, the quirky Kirill Marchenko, and an old friend in Jack Roslovic, with his tales of a teenage Matthews. But there was another pivotal addition that injected some much-needed life into the group this season: the young blood.
Where the Leafs of the past few years seemed a veteran group trying to summit a mountain of expectations, the story of the 2026-27 crew so far has been the emergence of the two cubs bounding around the den, 21-year-old Easton Cowan and 18-year-old Gavin McKenna.
On the very first day of camp this season, the Maple Leafs’ captain waxed poetic about the arrival of the 2026 No. 1 pick following in his footsteps, as the pair, along with fellow former first-overall pick John Tavares, held court in a conference room at the team’s practice facility in Etobicoke, Ont.
“I’m as excited at him joining the team as anybody else,” Matthews had said then, through a wide grin. “I mean, it's not every day you get the first-overall pick and you get a player and person of his calibre. I want to get to know him, I want to build that relationship on and off the ice. We want him to feel as comfortable as possible, and for him to come in here and just focus on playing hockey, working hard, being a good teammate. I mean, that's really what it's all about. Everything else will take care of itself.”
Fast-forward a month, and the captain’s lived up to his word, taking the teenager under his wing. The two have developed a special bond through their first few weeks as teammates, one that's easy to spot when they’re chopping it up during practice, when the captain goes out of his way to cheer on the youngest Leaf's on-ice successes. As was the case earlier this month, when the kid scored his first big-league goal and earned First Star honours for his efforts.
Matthews, camped out in the Scotiabank Arena tunnel with McKenna before he took his own Second Star spin, turned to the 18-year-old beaming: “I’m going to stay for your applause,” he told him. “That’s how pumped I am.”
“I think when you bring in some new, young, elite talent, it’s always exciting,” Matthews said of the teenager. “It’s been a lot of fun getting to know him, spending some time with him. I just think the more time we spend together, the more comfortable we’ve gotten. We’re forming a pretty good relationship, so it’s been a blast. He’s an incredible person, with a great head on his shoulders.”
These moments, of teammates gravitating to the young winger, have become common through the season’s opening month. We only see a snippet of what life in the Maple Leafs’ room truly looks like, speaking with them only in the moments right after a game or a skate. Still, it’s become a familiar sight to see McKenna joking with veterans Brandon Duhaime or Nick Paul, or palling around with fellow young gun Cowan.
A week ago, as we traversed the bowels of Nationwide Arena after the Maple Leafs took down the Blue Jackets in front of a hostile Columbus crowd, it was McKenna and 17-season veteran Oliver Ekman-Larsson who emerged from the club’s locker room sharing a laugh together, each holding a slice of pizza as they made the trek through the barn to the team bus.
“The vibes are great,” Cowan said earlier this season, as this new dynamic started to take shape. “Just how they’re welcoming me, and obviously Gavin too, as a young guy — everyone’s been great to us. I’m sure he would say the same thing.
“Like I’ve been saying, some young juice and some veterans — it goes a long way.”
There may be no greater indication of the shift in vibes this season than the mystery goal celebration that’s quickly becoming a moment in the city.
It started in camp, McKenna first breaking out the one-arm bobbing-glove celly at the Ford Performance Centre in response to a teammate’s goal. He hit it again when he potted his own first goal as an NHLer, four games into the year. In the weeks since, it’s taken on a life of its own — Matthews has broken it out, Cowan’s broken it out, even depth winger Zack MacEwan and goaltender Anthony Stolarz have hit the yet-to-be-named celebration. Videos on social media show fans in the stands imitating it, too, and more still back at home.
“We did it in college,” McKenna explained after practice last week with a chuckle. “It was like, if someone did something cool, or they’re a beauty, then you do that. I started doing it here with the guys — it’s pretty cool to see it catch on.”
Needless to say, his former college teammates have taken notice.
“They’re pretty pumped,” the teenager said. “I’ve got a lot of people sending me those clips. The Penn State boys are pretty fired up.”
So, too, are the teammates he’s suiting up with now.
“The energy in the locker room day in and day out’s been great,” Matthews said recently. “The guys, the environment that we’re in, it’s just so much fun. It’s competitive. You know, a lot of joking around, a lot of chirping one another — it’s just been a lot of fun.”
“You can tell — the energy here’s infectious,” MacEwan added. “The guys are really gelling well. Everybody loves coming to the rink.”
Beyond the general turnover and the slew of new faces, the reason for the renewed spirit among the group seems clear.
“Young influx of kids that have a lot of energy,” assessed Stolarz. “They really bring out the best of everyone. It’s an exciting time to be a Maple Leaf.”
Key to the equation, though, is that the kids haven’t just been chipping away on the fringes. Still only 14 games into his NHL career, McKenna’s shown glimpses of elite skill, has found a home on the top power-play unit, and has come up with plays that have put wins on the board for the Maple Leafs. And Cowan, in his sophomore season, now seemingly free of the weight of expectations that hung heavy on his shoulders last year, has emerged as one of Toronto’s most important contributors.
“What I like most of all is he’s really determined — he’s early at the rink, he’s really taking this seriously at a real young age,” Hiller said of the 21-year-old in September. “It’s easy to say, then there’s all these things that you have to do. And when I see him getting to the rink early, stretching and eating and then going into the gym, that tells me he’s on the right path.”
In the weeks since those early signs, the Strathroy, Ont., standout has become a pivotal source of offence for these Leafs, potting eight points over his past seven games and earning a raise to Matthews’ left side.
The winger’s outing Monday seemed something of a microcosm of his young career to this point — some early stumbles, some humbling from his coach, before the kid returned to the ice flying, put a puck in the net, and tried his best to drag the Maple Leafs back into it.
“He’s exceeded my expectations — and I had high expectations for him,” Hiller said of Cowan after his breakout night in Columbus, reflecting on a conversation he had with the winger before the season began. "He told me this is what he was going to do. So he’s living up to his end of the bargain. … I think a lot of players, they have high expectations for themselves. But as a young player, it’s hard to fulfill those expectations this early, especially some of the stuff with his game that he had to change a little bit. But he’s done it so far.
“It’s just understanding how the NHL works. It’s one thing how junior works, it’s one thing how college works, one thing how the American League works. How does the NHL work? You’ve got to understand that. I think he’s gotten there.”
It’s Cowan’s perspective on his own potential, and his own shortcomings, that’s impressed the Maple Leafs coaching staff most.
“Before I told him what my expectations were for him, he told me what his expectations were for himself. And I thought that was really important, because he had a better picture than I did,” Hiller said. “He knew what he could do more so than I did. And he’s done that. … Now, the hardest thing for a young player is to be able to do that Monday night and Tuesday night and Thursday night and Saturday night.
“So far this year, there’s been a couple little dips, but let’s be honest, he’s been very, very consistent. We know what the game looks like. I think that’s the biggest part of it — to be able to do it night after night.”
For both young Leafs, there is growth still to come, progress still to find. As is expected from a pair of talents who’ve yet to hit 100 games in the big leagues, combined. But beyond their own performance, the kids have already given something significant to this Maple Leafs campaign, bringing this group together as it charts a new path this season.
And the improved cohesion in the room has been good for more than just a few heartier laughs off the ice. To hear them tell it, it’s giving these Leafs more reason to play for each other, to find a way through nights like Monday’s disappointment, back to progress on the other side.
“I think that emotion, that energy, carries over into the games,” Matthews said. “It doesn’t matter who scores — everybody’s excited, everybody’s happy. It’s just, everything’s about the team. The team’s been first all this time, and that’s what’s most important. That’s what I feel is driving us right now.”
That renewed team spirit culminated in one particularly memorable moment a week ago, when heart-on-his-sleeve veteran Troy Stecher potted a final-minute game-winner to lift his Leafs over the visiting New York Rangers. The reaction from the defenceman’s teammates on the bench — jumping and hollering and leaping into each other’s arms — might’ve been more raucous than that of the fans packing the Scotiabank Arena stands.
“You know what was great,” Hiller said that night, after the dust settled on the hard-earned win. “I just saw the goal on TV, so I got to see the front of the bench, and saw them — that makes you feel good. They were excited. They were happy. For Stech, I’m sure — happy we scored, happy we won the game. But that’s a lot of emotion for a game that wasn’t in overtime.
“You know, it’s a regular-season game in October. It was great to see. A great sign.”
