Undrafted rookie forward comments on making his NHL debut with the Leafs
With Auston Matthews out of the lineup ahead of tonight's game against the Nashville Predators, Sheldon Keefe and the Toronto Maple Leafs have announced that Bobby McMann will enter the lineup in his stead and make his NHL debut.
The 26 year old McMann has spent the majority of his career either in the NCAA or the AHL and after a strong showing with the Toronto Marlies this season - 8 goals and 15 points in only 17 games - the Leafs feel comfortable giving him his first look in the national hockey league.
He stands at 6'2 and weighs in at 208 lbs, has good skating ability for someone his size, and the un-drafted forward works harder than most to stay relevant and in the lineup. He just recently earned the honours of AHL player of the week after scoring 3 goals and 6 points in 6 games, is coming off a season where he scored 24 goals for the Marlies in 2021-22, and has shown a little bit of flair in his Colgate University days.
Obviously he's not going to replace Auston Matthews and he doesn't really need to score goals to stick around with the abundance of talent around him. However this is his opportunity to shine and to show his evaluators that he has what it takes to make it to the big leagues.
"It's something I've wanted my whole life and dreamed of so I just stuck with it and persevered with the grind and the works and the skates. I just trusted that eventually it might come around and it might work out for me."
