Kevin McGran

4 weeks ago | thespec.com | Kevin McGran

Tavares is a first overall pick. Nylander is an eighth overall pick. Greatness was forecast for both. Both are living up to their billing. But McMann? Never drafted. His draft year was the same as Nylander’s (2014). If given a do-over, McMann would probably have been a second-round pick. His 129 games played places him 63rd in that draft class, his 35 career goals would place him 41st. “There’s many different ways to get here,” Tavares said. “Continue to believe in yourself. Trust yourself.

4 weeks ago | thespec.com | Kevin McGran

But what does it all mean? “Just trying to do what I’m paid to do,” said Nylander, before adding: “What matters is playoffs.”William Nylander - Toronto Maple Leafs (40) pic.twitter.com/DFqVuXHHUa— NHL Goal Videos (@NHLGoalVideos) March 26, 2025Maybe the Leafs are finally taking care of business — winning games they should, putting opponents down. The question heading in wasn’t so much whether they would beat the Flyers. After all, there was really no universe in which the Leafs should have lost.

1 month ago | thespec.com | Kevin McGran

It ended a three-game winning streak that included games they won that they should have lost. This one was a loss they should have won. Here’s a look at the latest Power Rankings, the latest three-game segment in which they went 2-1-0. Last week’s ranking in parentheses. 1. John Tavares (12)Led the team with three goals, two assists and in being appropriately “p——ed off” after losing to Nashville.

1 month ago | thespec.com | Kevin McGran

Players in this market sometimes mute their goals and revert to clichés, perhaps wary of criticism if they fall short. In the Toronto spotlight, that’s an understandable reflex. But there they were, talking about finishing No. 1 in the Atlantic after Thursday night’s 4-3 win over the Rangers in New York. Toronto appears to have gotten the message to “be better” in the words of captain Auston Matthews, who led the way in that regard.

1 month ago | thespec.com | Kevin McGran

“We had some good jump early,” Tavares told Sportsnet after the game. “We checked well. (Stolarz) was great. We did what we had to do to get the two points.”Maple Leafs John Tavares68th player in NHL history with 1,100 points pic.twitter.com/LfVZ2Ow0Ci— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) March 21, 2025Bobby McMann and Matthew Knies also scored and the Leafs seem all the way back from their struggles of a week ago, when they’d managed just one win over a head-scratching six-game stretch.