A rookie forward, who has limited prospects of graduating to the Toronto Maple Leafs roster, has equalled Josh Leivo’s rookie goal scoring record for the Toronto Marlies.
Bobby McMann scored the 23rd goal of his rookie campaign at 19:32 in the second period. The goal gave the Toronto Maple Leafs affiliate a short-lived 3-2 lead, before the Belleville Senators turned the tables to take the game 4-3.
McMann now also shares the Marlies’ goal scoring lead with Joey Anderson, isn’t looking likely to ever find himself in the NHL though, despite all this.
In fact it’s fellow rookie Alex Steeves, sitting just one goal back that is the more likely to be a long-term graduate. At one point, it seemed almost certain they’d be sharing this record.
Toronto Maple Leafs Not In Bobby McMann’s Future?
The big difference between the pair, despite them both being in their rookie AHL year, is that Bobby McMann is 25 years old; Alex Steeves by comparison is just 22 years old. (hockey-reference.com).
Ignoring the obvious age difference, what is remarkable about Bobby McMann is his pathway even to the AHL. He spent four years at Colgate University, captaining the side in his final year.
While Colgate University are an NCAA Division I side, they’re not exactly the biggest name out there. They’re not exactly a college with a huge number of NHL alumni to their name.
His pathway from college saw him split a season between the Wichita Thunder of the ECHL and then join up with the Marlies. McMann settled in for a full term with the Marlies this year, with the exception of 4 games with Newfoundland.
Even with his impressive goal scoring this campaign, it still feels a bit of a reach to imagine him in the Toronto Maple Leafs line-up. However, he can draw some inspiration from the pathway to the NHL that former Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Mason Marchment followed.
Given he’s a bigger body and has a focus on driving the net with a rounded two-way game, the comparisons are fair. Marchment, of course, also graduated to the AHL following a stint with the Orlando Solar Bears in the ECHL.
The key difference is that Marchment is 3 days younger than McMann and has very much made himself a useful piece on the Florida Panthers’ roster; McMann in spite of his goals isn’t quite there. Perhaps the Toronto Maple Leafs give him a decent run at training camp and his size offers him a shot at making the roster as a cheap extra piece next year. After all, the team is very much going to be tight to the cap.
Realistically, it’s a bit of a reach and requires more than a couple of Toronto Maple Leafs injuries before it can become a reality.
In the meantime, Bobby McMann will surely be proud to have his name in the Toronto Marlies’ records books and will no doubt hope to close out the AHL regular season by taking the record for his own.