Bobby McMann
The Maple Leafs haven’t had much surprise gems in recent years, and when they did, they often had them traded away without knowing. But they may be fortunate to have taken hold of one currently on their roster in tenacious winger Bobby McMann. After spending multiple seasons developing his game, McMann finally made his NHL debut with the Leafs in 2022-23 at age 26.
However, McMann didn’t secure a full-time role with Toronto until midway through last season. In the end, he put up some solid numbers with 15 goals, 9 assists for 24 points on 118 shots on goals, along with 117 hits while averaging just over 11 minutes of ice time over 56 games played.
But it wasn’t just the numbers as the overall play of McMann impressed the Leafs brass enough such that he has become a regular for the Maple Leafs now for the 2024-25 season.
In fact, this year, McMann has become a more significant contributor for the Leafs as his ice time has gone up to over 14 minutes a night while having registered 3 game-winning goals already. In 36 games of action, he has amassed 12 goals and 5 assists and is on pace to surpass his career marks from last season.
More importantly, McMann has found success no matter where he has played in the Leafs lineup. That included finding unexpected strong chemistry with Max Domi and Nick Robertson recently after being moved down to the third line.
There’s no doubt that McMann could provide the much-needed secondary scoring for the Maple Leafs down the stretch as he is poised to breakout and be a huge difference maker in the second half.