Kraken's McMann (Re)Meets Maple Leafs Media

The travelling circus, from what many refer to as the center of the hockey universe, caught up with Kraken winger Bobby McMann on Tuesday.

The media that covers the Toronto Maple Leafs couldn’t make the practice rink, so the Seattle club arranged a zoom interview with McMann, leading up to what will be his first game against his former club. The virtual scrum turned out to be exclusively for visiting media for Wednesday night’s game against the Leafs at Climate Pledge Arena.

McMann is in the first season of a six-year contract that he signed this past June and pays him $5.75-million per. The 30-year-old, undrafted late bloomer was acquired from the Maple Leafs on March 6th. A hot start in his new sweater, 14 points in 18 games, although most of that production came in the first ten matches, helped lead to the hefty Kraken contract.

Many of the questions during the virtual scrum revolved around McMann’s transition from a giant NHL hockey culture to an upstart one.

“The size of the city and the number of people that are hockey fans there is definitely a bigger, wider spread fan base, and you feel that, but it’s been cool coming to Seattle because I think so many people are excited about how new this team is,” he said. “The energy in our rink has been exceptional. I think this team feeds off that energy, we feel that, there’s been a really nice home crowd, I felt coming here that’s been super special, and that’s been propelling us at the start of the season.”

The Toronto club has gone through an overhaul under a new regime, so many of McMann’s closest pals have moved on from the organization he joined at the American Hockey League level in 2020.

So far this season, McMann has three goals and two assists over 12 games, hardly the pace he established last spring. Despite that, the Kraken find themselves in 3rd place in the Pacific Division with a record of 7-4-and-1. The Maple Leafs are in the same spot in the Atlantic Division with a 7-5-and-2 mark.