‘You want to be there for a teammate’

Toronto Maple Leafs forward Bobby McMann is ready to return to the ice after serving the one-game suspension during the Leafs’ 3-2 overtime loss on Thursday night to the San Jose Sharks. 

After a scrum broke out during the third period on Monday after a Gage Goncalves knee on Dakota Mermis, during the Leafs’ eventual 2-0 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning where McMann brought his stick down over the head of the Lightning’s Oliver Bjorkstrand. McMann, who has never been giving a ban by the National Hockey League through parts of four seasons stated that there was no intent behind what transpired on Monday night. 

“There was nothing malicious about it, I was never trying to injure anybody,” McMann said. “Luckily nobody was hurt, I think you just get in those battles where the hands get high and things kind of just escalate.”

The Leafs forward was coming to the defence of Mermis, who was injured on the play, and when asked if that fed into the emotion and temperature of the situation, McMann stated that it definitely played a role. 

“I think if you look at where that all started, you want to be there for a teammate,” McMann said. “Then emotions are running high.” 

Goncalves was left unpunished for the hit that has knocked Mermis out of the Leafs lineup, but McMann believes that maybe the league should look back to the root cause of the situation as to why things escalated. 

“That’s kind of the biggest thing is where the attention should be looked at, is where it all started.” McMann said on the play. 

McMann has now served his punishment, having to watch the defeat from the press box on Thursday, but McMann thinks the Leafs are getting closer to the team that they want to be in 2025-26. 

“I think we’re trending in the right direction, I think the guys are playing well and playing hard,” McMann said. “Continuing to work in our D-zone and making sure that we can close games out.”

McMann will return to the lineup to face the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night, who are the closest thing to McMann’s hometown team, with the forward hailing from Wainwright, Alberta. When asked if there was concern McMann might miss that matchup, McMann stated he didn’t even know they were coming up. 

“Yeah I didn’t really see the schedule honestly,” said McMann. “Or else I might have been sweating a bit more.”

The Leafs and Oilers square off on Saturday night with puck drop set for 7 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. 

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