TORONTO — Bobby McMann needed that one.
Sure, NHL pre-season games are cluttered with half efforts and ’tweeners. They’re lousy with imperfect chemistry and saggy legs and lines-in-progress.
The proverbial two points are nowhere to be found.
And yet, when you’re a 20-goal man who slunk out of the previous season on a 24-game goal drought (regular season plus playoffs), roofing a crisp backhander and seeing a blast of red light feels like progress. A small reward. Pre-season or not.
“I just see it as I want to be the best version of myself. I want to reward myself for the summer I put in,” scorer McMann told reporters following Tuesday’s 3-2 pre-season loss to Ottawa.
“Hopefully it comes to fruition throughout the year.”
What a year this is for McMann, who is skating in the final season of a deal that pays him a modest $1.35 million and is tracking a coveted opening-night spot alongside John Tavares and William Nylander, in addition to shifts on the second power-play unit.
Not a bad promotion for a streaky late bloomer who had tumbled down to the fourth line in mid-May and often looked overwhelmed in his first taste of post-season action (no goals, three assists, minus-2, and 16 penalty minutes in 13 games).
“The intensity level and how quick the game is and everything like that, it changes,” Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube says.
“It’s a different level. And he’s got some experience under his belt. I think he’ll be more prepared.”
McMann, 29, is a natural straightline speedster with a deadly release off the rush. He can beat goalies from distance and burn D-men wide. But Berube is trying to inject a dash more Matthew Knies into the left winger.
Taking the coach’s messaging to heart, the Wainwright, Alta., native has been training in Toronto since July, working on his touch down low (that backhander was no accident), explosiveness from the corners, and varying his angles of attack to the net.
Berube wants McMann driving inside the dashers, not sniping from the walls.
The player won’t place a statistical benchmark for 2025-26. (Twenty goals sure feels like the minimum, considering the opportunity.) Instead, McMann judges his own performance on three pillars: competitiveness, physicality and speed.
“Am I putting the work in daily? Am I cheating the work that I could be doing? Am I paying enough attention to rest, recovery?” McMann explains.
“I judge it more on the process rather than the results, and trust that’s going to continue to propel me to be a better player and the best version of myself that I can be.”
McMann, you’ll recall, was a surprise healthy scratch on 2024’s opening night after failing to wow the staff last September. He rebounded nicely, of course, but his longest NHL campaign (74 games) was an education.
“Waves of playing well, thinking you can play better … always a learning curve, always trying to get better,” says McMann, one of about 15 NHL-level forwards battling for ice time in Toronto’s camp.
“Playing here at this level, there’s so many good players, and everybody’s fighting for spots. Especially as you come down the end of the season, the play gets so good, so competitive into playoffs. But I learned a lot in that playoff run, and I’m taking a lot of that into this year.”
His greatest lesson?
“Just the competitiveness of it,” McMann says. “Making sure that even when you’re not contributing offensively, there’s a lot you can be doing to contribute. Those are long series, and you can really wear a team down if you’re doing the little things right.”
Nailing the details will be critical in McMann’s bid to ride shotgun with Tavares and Nylander.
The Leafs outscored opponents 11-5 in the 158 minutes McMann joined the all-star duo in 2024-25, according NaturalStatTrick.com, and Berube needs that unit to produce.
The coach also believes in forward pairs more than trios; McMann could well return to the bottom six if things don’t click.
Consider the current whiteboard a challenge, not a promise.
“Bobby could take another step in his game,” Berube says, “especially playing with those two guys. Getting those guys the puck more, getting to the net more, things like that. I like a big guy with those guys to forecheck, get in there and create loose pucks.”
Burying a few loose ones won’t hurt either.
One-Timers: Simon Benoit (upper body) last participated in team practice five days ago. He skated solo Tuesday. ... Max Domi on the prospect of joining Auston Matthews’ top line: “There’s open spots everywhere. Doesn’t matter where you play. You gotta go out and do your best.” ... The Maple Leafs’ pre-season continues with a home-and-home against Montreal Thursday and Saturday. Expect cuts to a more NHL-focused group early next week.
