Free agent Bobby McMann dropping an intense reality check leaves Toronto zero room for error
Photo credit: Steven Bisig-Imagn Images
Bobby McMann is going to be a free agent but from the sound of his end of season comments he wants to stick with a winner — which leaves the Maple Leafs out of luck.
When McMann was traded to the Seattle Kraken at the trade deadline, he was brought in to help get them into the playoffs thanks to his knack for scoring. Unsuccessful at that, McMann still put in a solid end of the season and solidified himself as a reliable scorer even as a late bloomer.
But without a contract heading into the summer, the Kraken would love to bring him back but there's also a chance that his old team the Maple Leafs want to make a push to get him in the lineup once again.
McMann says there haven't been any extension talks with the Kraken yet. On what he's looking for when deciding where to sign:
I think the biggest thing is winning.
McMann fell in love with the Seattle culture, and there's no way Toronto can compete
Though from the sounds of it, McMann looks like he wants to stay somewhere he can win — and avoid a retooling or rebuild:
I really enjoyed my time here, it was cool coming into a place where we were in the playoff hunt, you could feel it in yhr city and the fans; to play that meaningful hockey was a lot of fun.
Gonna take some time to reflect, Lane is a great person to have behind the bench, I enjoy him a lot and optimizing not only my potential but the team's they've treated me very well and I've could see myself sticking around.
Gonna take some time to reflect, Lane is a great person to have behind the bench, I enjoy him a lot and optimizing not only my potential but the team's they've treated me very well and I've could see myself sticking around.
Obviously the Kraken love what they got out of McMann, and the forward certainly showed why Toronto made a mistake giving up on him so early.
McMann, 29, had 14 points in 18 games since coming over which included 10 goals. He finished the year with 29 goals and 46 points on top of 165 hits; he was the quintessential power forward for both Toronto and Seattle.
If Toronto was bashful about paying him before, there's going to be a hard bargain bringing him back. He is going to cost a lot more, and he may feel slighted that the team gave him every chance and right when he proved them right they shipped him out of town.
You can't compete against a culture that is already so warm and welcoming. Ron Francis is gone sure, but this is nowhere near Toronto's level of incompetence.
Why Toronto's broken culture has seriously hindered their hunt for free agents
But much like McMann, all others around the league want to feel welcomed, appreciated and have the utmost confidence they are the piece needed to help the team win.
For Toronto, they would rather throw away things they've worked really hard for in the hopes of finding quick, stop-gap solutions that never pan out. Just look at the Brandon Carlo trade for evidence — they lost a star centre and likely a first-round pick this season for genuinely nothing.
Who wants to play for a team where the captain is literally waiting for a new management group before he decides if he's in or not? That's not a red flag, it's an air raid siren.
Going after names like Darren Raddysh and Alex Tuch are admirable quests no doubt, but the team is either going to overpay for a player who isn't guaranteed to help them or could very well be hesitant about committing to a place that has a history of being a mess.
At the end of the day, as much as these athletes seem superhuman, they are definitively the root word of that — human.
You want to set yourself up for success and win with the best possible group supporting you. For McMann that means sticking around in Seattle and staying as far away from the Maple Leafs as he possibly can.
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