Maple Leafs Full Media Availability | Pre Game vs. Seattle Kraken | October 18, 2025

Maple Leafs Full Media Availability | Pre Game vs. Seattle Kraken | October 18, 2025

a lot of hockey in this last eight days. Just what are the energy levels like right now? Good. I think it it same time like when you have a couple games like that right off the bat, get you in the game right away. You know, first couple games are a bit more rusty. Uh get get those out of the way real quick with those games back to back back to back. Uh it’s fun. You guys are in good shape and just excited to go tonight. How do you assess things from game to game now that the season’s well underway? Is it you guys coming together? You are you finding the the chemistry pretty Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we have a couple new guys. Uh, but like I said, like all the guys are working hard here. Uh, just the season gets going. Just we’re just looking for one day at a time tonight. What have you liked most maybe about the way the group has gone about it? I don’t know if it’s details or or timing or you mentioned chemistry. Is there something specific that you have liked about the way this group’s starting to find it? I mean, we’re so deep, right? Like all the guys like so much experience on the back end as well. So, it’s just like everybody knows what they’re doing. Everybody knows what they have to do and it’s just just chemistry is just it’s a thing in progress, right? You always have to build on it. Uh and we have we were lucky enough to have most of the guys coming back year after year. So, no it’s fun. We have a really good group of guys. Everybody wants to work. Everybody wants to win. So, it’s just fun. Is there something maybe that you still as a group want to kind of rein in and you know pay a little bit more attention to? I mean details like hockey is all about details. It’s all about that fraction of second, that little mistake. So I think all the guys want to get the systems dialed. Everybody knows where everybody needs to go and to make sure we don’t give the other team uh uh time and space and I think we’re working on that right now. What’s that about Anony’s game the other night? Good. I mean Tony is a great goalie. He always shows up. He’s always ready. So I’m not even surprised. Were you surprised he made a save without a mask? No, no, no, no, not not even like play with to Stoley uh in the miners in Anaheim. So, uh uh he made a couple stuff like that over the years obviously uh he’s not scared to get in front that buck and you saw with the the no no bucky save. So, but not even surprised. Yeah. What stands out about the Kraken tonight? They’re a good team. I mean, every team in the national are good. Uh they want to win. We want to win. Uh their lane is their coach now. So, we know how how he how he he coaches. So, we’ll be ready for that and uh just going to be a good name. What was it like working with Lane last year? It was good. I mean, he was in charge of the PK and oversee a bit of the stuff as well. So, uh he’s a really good guy. I liked him. Uh really detailed about the structure and you know, I think I was happy for him. He got his job there. Think Bobby is leading you guys in hits. Have you noticed him taking his game up a notch physically early this year? I mean, he’s a big boy, right? So I think uh I mean see see him bringing that aspect to his game it’s is great right we need that obviously he’s I can guarantee he’s thick you know like in practice and so he’s hard to move so bringing that little edge to his game I think it’s just going to benefit him for sure what was it like working with Lane Lambert last year yeah’s awesome um very detailed very smart um and sort of easy to to comm communicate with so Um, yeah, he was a pleasure to work with. Uh, it’s been a pretty busy stretch. Like, you’re usually a guy who take the the skate in the morning of games. Like, what’s the energy levels like right now? Energy is good. I just uh at a different rank, different gear, different gear uh sort of stuff. So, I chose to to stay off today. What’s uh how would you assess your your perform or the team’s performance through the first five games here like game to game like as things have begun game one? Um yeah, I mean there’s still a lot we need to work on. Um and a lot we want to get better at. Um we’ve had some good stretches and and good um periods, but um I think we we want to be more connected. We want to be better defensively. Um we want to move the puck better. Um so definitely some areas that um we want to get better and will get better at. Do you feel that’s improved from from the opening game to now just now that you guys kind of know your team and had a few games here? Um, yeah, I still think we’re still looking to to get better. What’s that about Anony’s performance on Thursday? Yeah, I mean, amazing. He made probably four or five 10 bell saves. So, um, can’t rely on on that every game, but he uh he was incredible for us as he’s been uh the last year and bit. He was uh willing to try and stop a block without his mask on. You’ve stopped you’ve blocked a lot of shots in your life. Have you ever taken one off the the face? I had an O teeth. That’s so There you go. Yes. So, do you appreciate that more than than than most that Anthony would be willing to stand in there? Um he’s a gamer. He’s uh probably didn’t even didn’t even cross his mind to for him to get out of the net. So, he’s uh as I said, been amazing for us. He’s um vocal. He’s a leader. Um very competitive and um always uh always plays well in the in the big moments. Uh Bobby is leading you guys in hits. I’m just curious your perspective on his physical play. Have you noticed it go up a notch early in this season? Yeah, Bobb’s a big big man who who can fly out there. So, um we we need him to be physical and to continue what what he’s doing out there. Were you yelling at your TV in the eighth inning last night? I think everyone was. What’s your confidence level series coming home now? Good. Two games at home. I think uh sort of going down 02. That’s probably what what they wanted. uh heading into Seattle to to have a chance to come back home and um get the job done here. Craig was just telling us he feels like your line is on the cusp of like really getting going here. What’s your sense of of your group going into this one? Uh yeah, feeling good about it. Last couple games I feel like we’ve had consistent chances throughout. Um and that’s kind of all you can hope for is just get those chances and then trust that eventually it’ll go in. Craig talked about uh the success you guys have had as a trio last season too. How much can that carry over from last year to this year? Uh, I I think it definitely has an effect when you play with guys. The longer you play with guys, the the more you get to know their tendencies, get to know what they like to do, get to know what some guys are better at certain things than others, and you kind of start to maneuver the game and go in certain areas where your maybe your strengths are. Did you like was it like clockwork like that first game together or uh I mean, is there a bit of an There’s there’s always adjustments. I mean, it it depends on the team you’re playing. Sometimes it’s easier for certain lines to play against certain teams depending on systems, whatever it is. Um, playing to strengths, playing to weaknesses, whatever it is. But, um, yeah, it definitely felt like it came pretty early once we jumped back together. You’re, uh, leading the team in hits. I’m just wondering if that was like a conscious thing for you coming to this year to to raise your physicality. Uh, I think I I think it’s just like I I recognize the the importance of it, especially in playoffs last year. um and the effectiveness it has and it’s just something that yeah I kind of want to focus on and continue to develop that side of my game. How do you I guess focus on that? Uh just like I I think it’s just being aware of it. Um and trying to not go out of your way to do it, but recognize when it’s there and when it’s appropriate and when it’s not. Like you don’t want to force it. Like there might be games where you don’t get as many opportunities to hit guys and um finish those tracks, but when it’s there, you want to make sure it’s there there to hit them. As a goal scorer, what’s it like to see the puck going a couple times early? Do you feel like it gives you a little more juice? Yeah, definitely helps. Um you want to see see the work you put in in the summer pay off and um especially when you can contribute in in winning games, that’s that’s the most fun thing to do. What you like as a group, I guess, about the last couple of games from the outside it looks as though this group’s really finding a rhythm. looks like it’s a lot more loose. But from your perspective, what does it sort of felt like the last couple that you had to point to one thing why it’s working? Uh I think it’s it feels like we when we roll the lines and like when we when we get in a rhythm um sometimes penalties can interrupt that, but when we get in a rhythm five on five, I think guys build off each other and um are pretty vocal on the bench kind of pumping each other up after good shifts and stuff like that. I think there’s good communication throughout the the locker room and and on the bench that’s really supporting us. How vocal was Solar last game? Yeah. Yeah, he was chatting pretty good. Um and he was just stellar all the way through u making back door saves after back door save. He was he was unreal. Ever see him lose his helmet? How vocal is it on the bench or on the ice whenever the moment? But what was the chatter like? Yeah. Yeah, that was crazy. Um the guy’s an absolute gamer. Uh that was I mean at first we were we’re rattled and then once he was okay we’re we’re pretty pumped that he was making that save. Um and he was fine all the way through there and he I don’t think he was even shaken up by it at all. You ever seen that before? Uh never seen no never seen a goalie make a save. No helmet on. Um it’s pretty old school. Lane uh Lane back in town. What was it like working with him last year? Yeah, it was great. Um you know he’s been a coach for a long time in this league. He was great for us. I I learned a lot from him and uh super human and a real good coach. So uh we were very happy that he got another head job and um in Seattle. What have you seen from his new team so far this season? They’re cracking playing real good defense. I don’t they’re not giving up much. Um you know, they take care of the middle middle of the ice really well. Um you know, and they got some good young players over there, but um for me it’s you know, they’re defending really well. any adjustments to your line today? Lorenz will go in and Yarn Crock will come out. Just a numbers game. Nothing more than that. Stand up saying room for improvement on the defensive side. Where do you see the most growth that you see on the basket? Well, I think it’s um there’s a couple different areas. I like, you know, the oddman rushes, you know, we’ve we’ve done a good job in some games and some games we haven’t. So, I want to see that more consistent there. You know, some of the oddman rushes were given up. Um, to me, they’re just self-inflicted. Uh, the other area where we got to get better is like just our net front and killing plays low in our own zone. I don’t think we’re heavy enough right now killing plays down low. Um, allowing people to come out of there with the puck and then, um, just our net front can be better, can be harder. We pride it. We We took real pride in that last year than that front and um we were harder on our net and we got to get harder. Bobb’s hit total seem to be ticked up early this season. Are you noticing him adding a more of a physical dimension to his game? Yeah, for sure. That’s one of the things we’ve discussed and talked about over time and uh he’s doing a good job. He’s been physical and he’s been a good player for us. I think that line’s been good for us and um I think they’re going to break through at some point. Dakota was just saying it’s been maybe not the best start for him. What are you seeing from him and what do you want to see from him moving forward? Yeah, I mean he is what he is. He’s a big guy that’s going to forch check and be physical. He’s killing penalties for us and uh he’s got to be responsible defensively. He’s going to be using those situations uh Dzone faceoffs and and things like that and going against lines at times to shut them down. So, you know, for me it’s it’s um all about the forward check for me on with uh Dakota, you know, being physical on there and getting pucks and hanging on to him down low and getting to the net and that’s where he’s going to score his goals when you have a guy like Stevie come back in. I don’t know what the message is or what your expectation is about uh Lorenz. Well, I’ll just let um I think where he left off, I thought that he was playing really well. I thought he had a great camp. Um start of the season he was playing well and then he took that uh hit uh put him out for a couple but now he’s back in. So I think he just leave off you know take where you left off in my opinion like he was he was going well. You mentioned the numbers game obviously tough to sit out but does that create some internal competition? Do you guys Yeah, they can. I mean it’s just part of being a team. Um you know we did it last year too. There’s guys that probably don’t deserve to come out at times, but we got to we got to I think it’s important we got to use everybody. I mean, try to use everybody. That’s a it’s a tough schedule this year. It’s like always and uh you need 23 men. That’s why they’re here. Um so, you know, I don’t necessarily want just to change lineup for changing it, but you know, I think it’s important that we try to use everybody as much as we can.

Players and Coach address the media ahead of tonight’s game against the Seattle Kraken.

00:00 – Simon Benoit
03:01 – Chris Tanev
05:43 – Bobby McMann
08:55 – Craig Berube

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