Adapting to life as a full-time National Hockey League player, Bobby McMann is finding, continues.
Barring something unforeseen, the 2024-25 regular season will mark McMann’s first in professional hockey that he won’t play a game in the minors.
The 28-year-old Alberta native served notice last season he was here to stay and, along the way to scoring 15 goals in 56 games, signed a two-year, $2.7-million US contract in March.
After playing with the Toronto Marlies in a part of each of the past four seasons, McMann doesn’t have to look over his shoulder and wonder if he’s bound for another stint in the American Hockey League.
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“It’s adjusting to the heaviness of our schedule more than anything,” McMann said after the morning skate on Tuesday. “It’s something that I’ve never necessarily experienced (in four years at Colgate University or in the minor ranks).
“There were spurts in the past couple years being up (with the Leafs), but it’s the first time that it’s full-on, playing every second night, almost.”
Challenges and overcoming them are part of the job for any NHL player. Before the Leafs played host to the Boston Bruins at Scotiabank Arena, McMann was gutting through a dip in his production, as he had failed to record a point in seven consecutive games.
After sitting out the season opener, McMann had three goals in three games, but has just one assist since.
“You strive to get chances more than anything,” McMann said. “It’s doing the small things right. You can look at guys on the team that are having success and what are they doing? A lot of it’s compete and winning battles. Don’t worry about whether it’s going in the net.”
For Leafs coach Craig Berube, the solution for McMann was fairly straightforward.
“Sometimes players overthink things and try to do more than they need to do,” Berube said. “He needs to find it again. His game needs to be a simple up-and-down game, bang bodies, go to the net hard. He can be better, for sure.”
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