Quick Shifts: Should Maple Leafs re-sign Bobby McMann?
A quick mix of the things we gleaned from the week of hockey, serious and less so, and rolling four lines deep. The robots are coming, and they’re armed with clichés.
1. Bobby McMann has scored more goals (13) for the Toronto Maple Leafs this season than Matthew Knies, Max Domi, Matias Maccelli, Dakota Joshua, Nicolas Roy, Calle Järnkrok, Nick Robertson, and Scott Laughton.
Every one of those fellow forwards is making more money.
The undrafted late-bloomer trails all-star teammates William Nylander and John Tavares by just one and two goals, respectively.
This is with less than 15 minutes of average ice time and modest power-play and overtime usage.
The power forward is playing his best hockey yet. Fast. Physically engaged. A top-line complement to Matthews, who has been seeking line chemistry for most of the season.
McMann has been a force lately.
The winger also has an inconsistent history.
He’ll go quiet for prolonged stretches, like the 24-game goal drought that ended his 2024-25. Or the separate five-, six-, and eight-game point droughts he’s already endured this season.
There’s good reason GM Brad Treliving didn’t rush to extend the 29-year-old over the summer.
But McMann is getting a raise this summer, be it from the Leafs or elsewhere. He has shown he can keep pace with top-six talent, and the UFA market is short on players of his ilk.
This is McMann’s best shot at a payday, at significant term. And he’s the type of underdog story you want to see rewarded.
Which leaves the Leafs in a fascinating spot: Keep yet another “own rental,” hope for a better playoff run, and consider extending McMann after the dust settles, albeit at the risk of walking him out the door?
Or trade an expiring asset with nice upside but a penchant for streakiness in an effort to stock some barren cupboards?
Treliving should be given pause here by the last impending UFA he took care of. Goalie Anthony Stolarz’s health issues have returned.
As enticing as it may be to lock up McMann the way he’s flying now, management would be wise to wait until early March.
How do the standings look — and how does McMann look — going into the trade deadline week?
2. Ladies and gentlemen, the NHL’s Halfway Awards…
Hart Trophy: Nathan MacKinnon. The best player on the best team’s 36 goals, five game-winners, and ridiculous plus-48 rating takes it. But Connor McDavid and his 17-game point streak are breathing down his neck.
Norris Trophy: Cale Makar. Apologies to Zach Werenski, Lane Hutson, and (checks notes) Darren Raddysh, but a Makar repeat is the easiest pick of the bunch.
Calder Trophy: Matthew Schaefer. Pre-season favourite Ivan Demidov may be gaining ground, but defence is a tougher position, and what the Islanders’ draft jewel is doing as a teenager is phenomenal. Should be next D up for Team Canada.
Selke Trophy: Anthony Cirelli. Boy, Aleksander Barkov’s unavailability makes this award a ton more interesting. Check the underlying numbers. Cirelli’s Olympic inclusion goes beyond being Jon Cooper’s guy.
Vezina Trophy: Scott Wedgewood. I can’t believe this journeyman is actually my pick, either. But numbers don’t lie. Wedgewood’s 19-3-4 record and a .917 save percentage are likely unsustainable but currently undeniable.
Jack Adams Award: Jon Cooper. Martin Scorsese didn’t win Best Director until age 64. He was overdue. So is Cooper, the longest-tenured head coach by more than three seasons. Cooper’s Lightning have survived lengthy injuries to Victor Hedman, Ryan McDonagh, Erik Cernak, Nick Paul, and Andrei Vasilevskiy and are tops in the East (by points percentage).
3. Canadian world juniors stud Zayne Parekh walked back his comments about being encouraged to give robotic interviews after his Calgary Flames caught wind.
The apology is understandable. Parekh wouldn’t be the first one who would prefer to stay on the friendly side of the organization that signs his paycheques, and no one wants to be perceived as not being on the same page as his teammates.
But that doesn’t mean Parekh’s original point wasn’t valid. Pros are encouraged to stick to the script, to morph unquotable.
Here’s hoping the talented kid finds a happy medium, so he can flex his personality and feel comfortable making interesting comments.
The “robot” stuff was hardly offensive or outrageous.
4. Quote of the Week.
“That’s about how quick the phone call was before, so I thought it’d be good.” —Trevor Zegras, drawing inspiration from his trade call to celebrate his two-goal revenge win over the Anaheim Ducks
5. The New Jersey Devils entered the season next to the Hurricanes as a prognosticator’s favourite in the Metropolitan Division.
Now? They can’t stop the bleeding, even if the dinner knives are tucked away.
They’ve dropped seven of their past nine and have been outscored 16-2 in their past three — each a regulation loss to a Metro opponent.
Young Luke Hughes got booed mercilessly at home. Top trade target Quinn Hughes is busy impressing in Minnesota. And the goaltenders they extended through 2027-28 have contributed to a middling .892 team save percentage.
Following Thursday’s loss to Pittsburgh, coach Sheldon Keefe was asked if he was worried about his job and dignified the question with a 90-second response.
“We’ve got work to do to become a real hockey team,” Keefe said. “There’s a perception that we were a real hockey team before the work was put in — and you get exposed.”
If there is a glimmer of optimism, the Devils have the NHL’s worst PDO (97.3), a rough measurement of puck luck that often settles closer toward 100.
(P.S. The Oilers have the NHL’s third-worst PDO at 98.0, a frightening thought for anyone trying to stop the McDavid train.)
6. Of all the Original Six’s all-time goal leaders, only one was born after World War II:
Boston Bruins – Johnny Bucyk (545), born 1935
Chicago Blackhawks – Bobby Hull (604), born 1939
Detroit Red Wings – Gordie Howe (786), born 1928
Montreal Canadiens – Maurice Richard (544), born 1921
New York Rangers – Rod Gilbert (406), born 1941
Toronto Maple Leafs – Auston Matthews (422 and counting), born 1997
When did former Leafs goal leader Mats Sundin realize Matthews might be coming for the throne?
“Right from the start, when he got drafted, the first year he came into the league, he showed right away,” Sundin said, during his Toronto visit this week. “He has that quality that superstars have. You know, the McDavids, the MacKinnons, the really top talent in the league. And then he has the size and the shot. So, I knew it was a matter of time before he was gonna break my record.”
What Sundin did not know was that Matthews would need 317 fewer games to hit 421 than the stellar Swede required to reach 420.
“With how old the Maple Leafs franchise is, it’s impressive that he’s already broken that record — and he’s still got 10, 15 years left in the league,” Florida’s Brad Marchand said.
Then the Leafs nemesis flashed a devilish grin before tacking on a qualifier: “Whether it’s here or not, you never know… just kidding.”
7. Sweden’s Oliver Ekman-Larsson was 14 when Sundin helped lead the Tre Kronor to Olympic gold in Turin.
“I remember watching it with my grandparents, actually. I was on the floor crying,” Ekman-Larsson recalls. “Super happy.”
Considering the defenceman survived the embarrassment of getting bought out by the Canucks and turned 34 over the summer, his making the national squad is no small feat.
“You keep fighting,” Ekman-Larsson says. He’s happy and proud.
“I’m thrilled for him, too,” Sundin says. “Oliver came into this league having very high expectations, being drafted high (sixth overall), and had a tough time in Vancouver. Then, to be able to win the Cup with Florida, he’s really settled into a great defenceman now. He plays more relaxed, doesn’t put too much pressure on himself, and he’s going to be a big asset for Team Sweden in the Olympics.”
In total, Sundin scored 11 Olympic goals. But his first two Winter Games, 1998 in Nagano and 2002 in Salt Lake City, ended with swift disappointment.
“That experience helped us prepare for playing in Turin and winning the gold in ’06. But there’s no team with experience from the Olympics going into this tournament, which makes it even,” Sundin says.
“Sweden has a chance, but Canada and the U.S. are the strongest teams on paper. But, you know, it’s not a seven-game series. They have one game to win a quarterfinal, semifinal or a final. Sweden can do that, too.
“There’s not a lot of players who have experience in the Olympics before, so it’s going to be a very open matter, and I’m really looking forward to watching the tournament.
“In one game, anything can happen.”
8. The term Streisand effect was coined 20 years ago, when famed singer and actress Barbara Streisand’s attempt to quash the publication of an aerial photo of her clifftop Malibu home, which was snapped by Kenneth Adelman to illustrate California’s coastal erosion.
Before Streisand brought attention to the photo with a lawsuit (eventually dismissed and costing her $177,000 in legal fees), the flick of her residence had only been downloaded six times.
After she brought attention to the thing she didn’t want attention on, the photograph — posted as part of the California Coastal Records Project — was viewed by more than 420,000 over the next month.
We follow hockey for a living.
We had no clue about the ugly and unverified Internet rumour surrounding the absent Linus Ullmark and rankling the Ottawa Senators until GM Steve Staios released a statement so strongly worded that we needed to find context.
Curiosity and all that.
Staios’s troll-shaming post was featured and discussed in the highlight shows and on NHL podcasts and blogs, surely causing casual fans to dig around and find out what ticked the Sens off so much.
If you tell the boy not to go into the attic, he’s going to start wondering what’s in the attic.
9. Regarding Jesperi Kotkaniemi’s spot on the trade block, reported by Elliotte Friedman Friday:
Look at the 25-year-old’s ice time, which has sunk to a career-low 11:08 this season. Or count his healthy scratches.
Head coach Rod Brind’Amour doesn’t trust the centreman, particularly in the defensive zone, where his starts have dwindled to just 34.7 per cent, his lowest since 2019-20 in Montreal.
Kotkaniemi is losing most of his faceoffs for the first time in five years. The Hurricanes are questioning his skating. And despite the O-zone looks, he’s scored only twice.
He should be in his prime, but all signs point otherwise.
One source says Kotkaniemi first asked for a trade in the summer and is willing to listen to all landing spots, despite holding a 10-team no-trade list.
Classic buy-low candidate in need of a fresh start.
The major hurdle is financial: He’s on the hook for four seasons beyond this one at a $4.82 million cap hit, but the Finn’s actual salary jumps to $5.2 million for 2027-28, 2028-29, and 2029-30.
Tough pill to swallow for a guy with six points.
10. Morgan Rielly, in the 23 games when right-shot partner Brandon Carlo was sidelined with an ankle injury: minus-9.
Rielly, in the two games since Carlo’s timely return: plus-2.
“He’s a stabilizer,” Leafs coach Craig Berube says of Carlo. “It gives Morgan a little more freedom to do his thing up the ice.”
11. A double feature of hockey movie news.
While it’ll be tough to top Kurt Russell’s performance in the 2004 theatrical version of Miracle (“Again!”), a new documentary of Team USA’s Olympic triumph drops Jan. 30 on Netflix.
Miracle: The Boys of ’80 is directed by Max Gershberg (Court of Gold) and Jake Rogal (The Last Dance, Court of Gold). If it’s anything close to The Last Dance quality, I can’t wait.
Coming to theatres March 6 is the 2025 reboot of Youngblood, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. Tough to top Rob Lowe in the 1986 original, but costars Blair Underwood and Ashton James will try. Here’s the trailer…
12. Ryan Reaves versus Mathieu Olivier is your early but sturdy contender for Best Hockey Fight of 2026:
Heavyweight Reaves praised his fellow combatant, saying it was “the first time I’ve been caught and knocked down like that” over his 16-year career.
Olivier sent Reaves to concussion protocol.
“I had to memorize some words: cotton, honey, arrow, I think, was there,” he told reporters in San Jose. “The months of the year backwards. I had to do some numbers games, some balance stuff. I passed with flying colours.”
Most interesting was Reaves’ reasoning for accepting a tilt against one of the NHL’s toughest customers — and a guy 10 years younger.
Olivier simply asked, and Reaves obliged because he wants a “yes” when he asks a fellow scrapper.
They’re a slimming breed.
Only four NHLers, Olivier included, have more than five major penalties this season.
“Once I felt he was going down, I tried to hold him up,” Olivier said. “I think everyone does the same thing.”
