TORONTO — Darren Raddysh caught a glimpse of his baby boy Beau in the lower bowl as the Ontario-born defenceman skated out as a Toronto Maple Leaf for the first time.
The moment whisked him all the way back to when his own dad, Dwayne, would bring Darren to Scotiabank Arena to watch his favourite hockey team.
Dwayne died of pancreatic cancer in March. He never did get to see Darren live out his dream. But Beau did.
“It was a little bit emotional going out there,” Raddysh said, following Toronto’s 3-2 home loss to the Montreal Canadiens Tuesday. “I saw my son on the glass, and just seeing him kind of brought back memories to me and my dad. So, yeah, it was nice to see him out there and know he was in the stands watching his dad.”
Raddysh was one of 10(!) players who made their Maple Leafs debut, a collection of grinders and phenoms, of high-priced free agents and steep-cost trade acquisitions forced to make fast friendships and strike instant chemistry after a truncated training camp and one blast of a boys’ trip to Arizona.
Heck, one top-six forward, Gavin McKenna, hadn’t played a single pro shift that mattered. And another, Kirill Marchenko, figured he was going to play for the Blue Jackets until, oh, 26 hours before puck drop.
Raddysh was hardly the only new guy fielding a flood of exciting texts and ticket requests from friends and family members while trying to dial in the details in a new uniform.
It probably didn’t help that the Leafs were playing for an overhauled coaching staff against the reigning conference finalists, a familiar, organized group essentially intact from their playoff run deep into May.
So, yes, the Maple Leafs channelled giddy energy and clean-slate renewal into a furious first 10 minutes. And, yes, sniper William Nylander — buzzing all night — found twine 48 seconds into the season (plus once more late).
But, no, Toronto’s hot start was not sustainable.
There will be growing pains, for Raddysh (dash-2) and McKenna (same) and some of the Leafs’ D pairs and offensive lines that struggled to sort out their assignments without the puck or bobbled it on the wrong side of centre.
“We had a lot of new guys, and I thought we looked a little bit like a new team today,” head coach Jim Hiller said. “We just weren’t connecting with our passes. I don’t know if that has anything to do with nerves or being in the building for the first time, and the first time everybody together, so we just weren't we weren’t clean as a team.”
Nylander believes the Maple Leafs “sat back” in the second period, when the visitors seized a lead they would not relent, and noted that linemate McKenna might require “a little bit of adjustment time.”
Pre-season affords playmakers more space than the regular season.
“Got a little bit sloppy there halfway through the game, and kind of let momentum slip from our hands a little bit, but I think it’s just some little execution plays. Taking care of the puck when you have to,” captain Auston Matthews said.
“One of those nights all around,” John Tavares agreed. “Nothing was really clean.”
While dangerous top-line shifts gave Beau and the other Leafs faithful hope, costly turnovers in the defensive and neutral zones — a recurring theme from last season — proved Toronto’s undoing.
“Most of the chances that they got, we gave them,” Hiller said. “That was really our Achilles heel.”
Hiller promoted the less risky puck hound Easton Cowan to Nylander and Tavares’s line, which was always going to be a defensive gamble. Good for Cowan; a challenge for McKenna.
“It’s just going to take some time. Everybody settles into their roles. Everybody wants to do extremely well, and sometimes that’s more of a curse than a blessing. You try to do too much and get a little tight,” Hiller explained, patiently.
“First time playing for the Maple Leafs in this building in a regular season game, so that might have a little bit to do with some nerves.”
Flush the emotions. Learn from the mistakes.
Avoid excuses. Get right back on the horse.
The New York Islanders are rolling into town Wednesday.
“It’s the NHL. You gotta be ready for Game 1,” Raddysh said.
“Good thing we play tomorrow.”
Fox’s Fast Five
• Can’t say we’ve seen a rookie skip an optional morning skate, particularly one ahead of his NHL debut, but that’s what McKenna did Monday.
“He’s got some swag,” veteran Chris Tanev said, flashing a grin.
McKenna instead visited with family members in the stands while 11 of his teammates got in a pre-game sweat.
“I actually thought it was great. I really did,” Hiller said. “Because that’s an optional skate. It’s optional if you think you need it to get ready to play tonight. And when I heard he didn’t go out, it didn’t surprise me. He just has that way. He knows who he is. He knows what he has to do. And I think how he’s adapted in a short amount of time just speaks to who he is and the confidence that he has in himself.”
McKenna’s debut stat line: one shot, minus-2, two giveaways, 42 xGF%, 15:19, one commercial co-starring alongside Michael Cera.
• During Tuesday’s Zoom meeting with reporters, Matthew Knies admitted that getting traded out of Toronto began to feel “inevitable” and that the waves of rumours hung over his head this off-season.
“Glad it’s over with,” said Knies, who was caught off-guard by the timing. “I never saw something like this right before opening day.”
Blue Jackets coach Rick Bowness plans to drop Knies net-front on the top power-play unit (a job he lost at Leafs camp) and skate him on the left side of Adam Fantilli.
Fantilli and Knies were both Hobey Baker finalists in 2023, and the centreman described the power forward as “a nightmare” to play against in college.
Bowness stressed the addition-by-subtraction value of ridding the room of a player who wanted out before the season began (cc: Red Wings, Jets).
“You could kinda tell Marchy didn’t really want to be here. Don’t need that hanging over us to start the year off,” Zach Werenski said. “It’s good we got ahead of it.”
• New guy Marchenko sorted out his work visa jumped right into the fire, skating on Matthews’ top line, swiping Jack Roslovic’s spot on the No. 1 power-play unit, and notching an assist in his first shift as a Leaf.
Fun fact: Marchenko told the What Chaos! podcast that he once wore No. 34 in Russia because of his affinity for Matthews.
“I didn’t know that,” Matthews smiled. “I’ll have to ask him about that. That’s pretty funny.”
The linemates are already in sync.
“I remember talking about him probably three years ago with one of the guys, and I said, ‘I think he might be the best unknown player in the league,’ just because of maybe playing in Columbus,” Matthews said. “I felt like every time we would play them, he was one of the best players on the ice. And his skill set is very, very elite.”
• The most common birth city listed on the NHL’s opening-day rosters?
Toronto, 24 times.
• The Maple Leafs are leaning into their status as the team you love — or love to hate — with 2026-27’s hype video. Nylander, he of bird-flipping fame, even gets bleeped out for dropping a cuss word. New marketing tack for the storied franchise.
