TORONTO — Back when Auston Matthews and Jack Roslovic were teammates in Ann Arbor, Mich., suiting up as teenagers for the U.S. National Team Development Program, they formed two-thirds of a trio they dubbed 'The Superman Line.'
“I think it was the Cam Newton era,” Roslovic explained with a grin Friday, referring to the former NFL quarterback’s signature touchdown celebration. “When he was ripping the jersey open. It was jokes.”
The 29-year-old skated alongside his former USNTDP linemate for the second straight day as the Toronto Maple Leafs continued on-ice sessions at the club’s practice facility in Etobicoke, Ont., showing well as they continue recovering their former chemistry on the blue-and-white's top line.
“He’s extremely skilled,” Matthews said of his new winger, who joined the Leafs on a two-year, $8-million deal in July. “He’s always got his head up, he skates well, he shoots the puck. He can drive play with his speed — he’s good at holding on to pucks, finding the open guy, just trying to read off each other a lot. … I think it’s definitely coming along. It’s still obviously very early, but tomorrow will be a good test for us to get out there, get in a game situation and just play hockey.”
“We’re getting there,” Roslovic added. “Obviously the biggest thing is just the communication aspect — when you know somebody, you have that comfortability of talking to them. That’s the biggest thing. As the ice sessions keep on going, and the games start happening, it’ll build.”
Through two days of camp, the connection between the longtime friends has been clear, not only in the handful of sterling sequences the pair has come up with on the sheet, but in the rekindling of their camaraderie off it, too.
“We had a lot of good memories, honestly. Those two years were so much fun,” Matthews said of their run together Stateside. “We had a lot of success. … It’s pretty cool to reminisce on those times. And obviously it’s exciting having him on the team here, to play with him and be around him again, hang out — he’s a blast to be around.”
The third member of that original Superman Line — Florida Panthers winger Matthew Tkachuk — appears less enthused about the reunion.
“He told us if we played against them and scored, and did the Superman celly, he was going to kill one of us,” Matthews said with a laugh.
Filling in for Tkachuk in this iteration of the Superman trio is Matthew Knies, who said Friday he feels 100 per cent healthy heading into the new campaign. After a 2025-26 that saw the winger hampered by injuries, but still able to put up a career-best 66 points in 79 games, the 2026-27 season brings with it the potential for even more progress.
“The strength is really impressive,” Roslovic said of the 23-year-old. “And then you mix that with his goal-scoring prowess, his ability to be disruptive netfront, and then obviously playing all the way down to his D-zone. I’m excited to play with him as well. That’s a guy who can control the game in a little bit of a different way than Auston can.”
“He looks great,” Matthews added. “I think for us to have success, obviously he’s a big part of the line, as far as winning battles, being in front of the net. But obviously he’s got the skill to put the puck in the net and make plays as well.”
For head coach Jim Hiller, there’s plenty still to be determined once the games begin. And the two wingers lining up alongside the Maple Leafs captain will have to prove they can hang on the top line long-term.
“You have to be a good two-way player,” Hiller said Friday, after wrapping up a second session with the other half of the Maple Leafs' training camp participants. “You play with Auston, you’ve got to create offence. But on the other side of it, if we’re going to allow him a little more freedom and creativity to take some risk and try to make some plays and hang onto the puck in the offensive zone, there’s going to be times that you’ll be the guy that’s cleaning that up on the way back.
“When you play with Auston, you’ve got to be good both ways — that’s the way I see it.”
Maple Leafs’ new identity coming into focus after second session with Hiller
With a couple skates in the books, and the club’s first pre-season game looming, Hiller’s vision for the Maple Leafs is beginning to emerge. After two high-paced sessions, two days of drills that have seen players flying down the ice, looping back and sprinting towards the cage at top speed, the message has been clear.
“We want to have the puck,” Matthews said. “A lot of the emphasis has been skating — but skating on both sides of the puck. The freedom to make plays, utilize our skill, and when you see something, try to make a play. And when you make a mistake or turn the puck over, just get back on defence, work hard, skate. That’s been the emphasis so far from what I can tell. We’ve got a lot of speed and skill on this team — I think you want to utilize that, and play smart as well.
“He’s demanding a lot out of the guys, which is great. A lot of skating here in practice, getting up and down the ice — I think that’s been a big emphasis, that we want to be a fast, hard-skating team, on defence and offence.”
For Hiller, that balance has been crucial in determining the direction he wants to take the group.
“I think the first thing you do is you look at the team and the players on the team, and there are some elite offensive forwards,” the coach said. “So, I think we have to let them play to their strengths. And with that, there’s a commitment to play without the puck that everybody has to make — it doesn’t matter what your talent level is. But when you have the puck, and you have that type of elite offence, we’re going to give them some freedom and creativity to use those skills.
“I hope we strike a balance — I hope we’re a hard team to play against without the puck, but I hope when we have it, we see some of that dynamism that we do have up front.”
Confidence on display as McKenna continues to impress at camp
Friday’s session marked the second official big-league practice for 2026 No. 1 pick Gavin McKenna, too, the teenager once again lining up alongside John Tavares and William Nylander as the club flew through their sequence of drills.
And two days in, the 18-year-old already has his teammates impressed.
“He’s great. You know, he plays with a lot of confidence,” Matthews said. “He’s come in right away and found his groove. You can tell, when he’s on the ice and has the puck, the skill and the plays that he can make. That line seems to have meshed really well over the last two days, just in the drills and practices — obviously three extremely talented and skilled players that all see the ice well, can move it, can make plays, are dangerous one-on-one.
“To me, he’s fit in really well with those guys, and fit in really well with the team so far. He seems really comfortable. And he has the confidence that he knows he’s a great player, and that he can play at this level too.”
“I think he’s got the whole package," Knies added. "I’m excited to see what he can do. It’s going to be really fun to watch him — watching a player like that, you just become a fan of the game.”
Saturday will mark another pivotal step in McKenna’s journey, the young phenom set to play his first pre-season game in a Maple Leafs sweater. Asked whether he’ll give the teenager any advice before he steps onto the ice at Scotiabank Arena, Hiller shook his head.
“No, I’m not going to say anything to him. He’s going to talk to the guys,” the coach said. “Us as coaches, we’re mentors and we guide them, but we’ve got plenty of guys that have been through this. It means more coming from them, I think.
“I’m just going to tap him on the back, look him in the eye, shake his hand and say, ‘Go enjoy the night.’ There will be plenty of nights where we’ll demand more than that, but I don’t think tomorrow night should be one of them.”
Bobrovsky to start Saturday, Rielly rejoins team for Friday’s skate
The rest of the Maple Leafs’ lineup is coming further into focus in the lead-up to Saturday’s pre-season game, too.
After missing Thursday’s skate while he recovers from a viral condition, defender Morgan Rielly rejoined the team Friday, slotting in on the third pairing alongside Emil Andrae. Though the 32-year-old skated on his off-side beside fellow lefty Andrae, Hiller cautioned those in attendance not to read much into Rielly’s spot in the lineup for now, with the veteran simply slotting into the spot Ben Danford held on Thursday, and the exact arrangement still to be determined.
The other two pairings remained intact from Thursday’s skate, with Jake McCabe and Chris Tanev teaming up, and Oliver Ekman-Larsson pairing with new recruit Darryn Raddysh. Troy Stecher and PTO candidate Nick Blankenburg rounded out the back-end group.
In the cage, Hiller announced veteran Sergei Bobrovsky will start Saturday’s pre-season game at Scotiabank Arena, with Anthony Stolarz likely to get minutes during the tilt as well.
Maple Leafs lines at Friday’s skate:
Knies – Matthews – Roslovic
McKenna – Tavares – Nylander
Cowan – Paul – Sissons
Joshua – Blueger – Duhaime
Lorentz
McCabe – Tanev
Ekman-Larsson – Raddysh
Andrae – Rielly
Blankenburg – Stecher
Bobrovsky
Stolarz
