“We had a lot of key players out of games early in the season. And then when you go through those games, you’re not winning as much and then you get those players back and it’s like, ‘OK, we should be good.’ But sometimes, the team isn’t clicking where you want it to be,” he said. “Then you start trying to change things up a little bit. I think that’s where you start to run into problems, instead of trusting the system.”
What did those problems look like?
“Trying to change the approach to the game. Whether that’s systems, line combinations, guys trying to do different things on the ice because we’re not finding success individually, you start to deviate from the game plan. You see it in games when you go down or any games where you’ve had a few consecutive wins, you get disconnected,” McMann said.
“Every team in this league is so exceptionally good that when you’re not working as a cohesive unit all the time and you’re disconnected, things can start to go south pretty quickly,” he continued. “I think guys were maybe overthinking things a little bit too much, thinking about ‘OK, how do we get this back?’ rather than trusting the process of the game plan in place at start of the year. Let’s stick with what our systems and plan we’ve been working at for quite a long time. We’ve been working with these lines and combinations we had, to go through these situations.”
….
“Is Toronto a difficult place to play?
He hesitated for a long few seconds, considering the question.
Yeah, it can be. When things aren’t going well, it’s that much harder to play there, I think,” McMann said. “We’re all human, and I think all NHL players at times get put on a pedestal. Everybody lets things get to them to a certain extent, some more than others.
“When things aren’t going well, a lot of us are so critical of ourselves already that then when you start hearing it from things like media, people around town, the people that you aren’t as connected to, oftentimes you try and brush it off. But it’s hard because you’re human, and eventually it gets to you and it starts to wear on you. And you also understand the magnitude of the Leafs in that city and how important hockey is there. So I think a lot of the guys who were really big competitors wear that on their shoulders and wear the weight of the city on their shoulders a lot because of how important the sport is there.”
Did he? McMann did not score a goal during his 13 playoff games last season.
“I feel like I tried not to as much as possible. But inevitably I did, especially in playoffs. I was feeling that a lot. Our playoff run last year, I really felt even more that the city’s watching,” he said. “So many people are riding on these playoffs and wanting us to do well and that’s great and it feels so good to be there. That’s why it’s such a cool place to play and that’s why I love playing in that city, is because everything mattered. People were paying attention to every little thing. But there’s also the other side of it where you wear a lot of that pressure on yourself to try and bring success for that city.”
29 comments
Thought this was an interesting article with some perspective from a player who’s stepped out of it now. On the point of the season going south – seems like the constant changes early in season led to confidence issues and lack of clarity and cohesion. The way he talks about guys deviating from the plan, overthinking, and trying to force solutions individually makes it sound like once results started slipping, they stopped fully trusting either the structure or their own ability to succeed within it.
Also thought his comments about playing in Toronto were interesting and fair. What he seems to be getting at is that the sheer amount of attention around the Leafs means players are constantly surrounded by discussion about how they’re performing, and because most of them are already hard on themselves, that naturally turns into pressure they internalize. That felt like a more nuanced perspective than the usual “Toronto media is unbearable” argument that gets thrown around. When a team matters this much, there’s no real escaping the noise. And from a player perspective they also appreciate that it means people care.
Sad to see him go because he really wanted to stay and there was a part in the article that described the goodbyes and anxiety when you know you’re about to be traded. Wishing him all the best in Seattle.
The weight of expectation is heavy and the team has been wearing it for 9 seasons.
Now that we expect them to suck, there’s not going to be much pressure for the rest of the season. We’ll see if they like this better, when nobody gives a fuck.
Maybe they’ll start to play better with the pressure off. Chances are they’ll keep losing though, because the reality is that they’re just not very good.
The scumbags at TSN are going to have a field day with this 🙄
In terms of pressure, imagine playing for the New York Yankees? Or Real Madrid?
He could be just being diplomatic because not many players will come out and say their coach’s system is shit, but I feel like hockey players in general are the most old school out of the major sports. To use a baseball analogy we have a coach asking players to hit more ground balls and when the results aren’t good the players think they must not be grinding hard enough.
Ever since I was reminded that the nhl has a lower attendance rate than soccer and football and we never hear shit about those athletes struggling to deal with the pressure of fans and media, i have grown to think it’s hilarious when anyone talks about how hard it is to have fans care lol
I can understand why guys try to deviate from the system, cause it sucks ass
Hardly pour ice cold water over the narrative that Toronto is a difficult place to play, is he… ?
A lot of what he said comes down to injuries, which I agree was a huge part of what’s happened to us and not working as a cohesive unit. Which boils down to a coaching problem. Berube hasn’t figured it out.
One other thing which stuck out to me was that he mentioned constantly changing the line combinations up which disrupted chemistry and players being on the same page. I saw and thought that as well was a big issue. Felt validating hearing that from a player too. Drives me even more insane that we stuck with Berube even after the advanced stats last year were telling.
People are going to pay a lot more attention to “it’s that much harder to play there” than to “So many people are riding on these playoffs and wanting us to do well and that’s great and it feels so good to be there. That’s why it’s such a cool place to play and that’s why I love playing in that city, is because everything mattered”
I think the Marner exit affected everything more than what McMann is sharing.
Marner leaves, announces on his way out on his revenge tour that Toronto is not a good place to play. Shaking up the leadership group and core when you lose a guy of that magnitude for nothing. Then now all the extra pressure to get off to a good start to show they are fine without him. They were disastrous to start the year, and this was before the injuries. Things started to slide and then I think that’s when Bobby’s comments come into play.
Somebody in Leafs PR needs to step in and tell everybody on this team and organization to stop fucking talking about the pressures of the media and the fans, full stop.
It helps absolutely nothing and nobody the more these guys continue to cry about how hard the media and the fans make it.
Just give a generic “we love the fans and we love how passionate the city is.”
The pressure narrative is so fucking exhausting. Year 58 without a cup. On our second tour in the last 20 years of giving our division rivals foundational building blocks to their playoff teams. Highest ticket prices by a country mile, yet we still fill the building. One of the worst drafting teams in the league.
But yeah no, the fans have created the pressure. Not all the losing. I guess we’re supposed to stfu, buy our $400 tickets, $30 beer and scream our asses off for the 1 goal, 18 shot performances.
The system is not the one for this team so hard to follow that
I will miss mcmann on the Leafs.
Reading between the lines, the way Bobby used words like ‘system’ and ‘line combo’ to describe the problem makes he thinks he’s talking about Berube and how he’s always shuffling the lines around when we’re losing.
I’ll always be a mcmannimal
This would explain Rielly. He has put so much into his team that his odometer has rolled over to complete zero. He makes Jake Gardner look like Scott Niedermayer.
Saying it’s harder to play in Toronto says a lot more about the player than the environment and the organization. To me it says “I’m not him” or “I’m not built that way”. Plenty of players have thrived there and loved every minute of it. Often on some really bad teams. None of those players ever said “Toronto is a difficult place to play” when they left and joined other teams. I like McMann, he’s just not ‘him’. Marner is not ‘him’. The leafs should be looking for more ‘hims’ than trying to change a narrative that is more an admission of a shortcoming of a player than an organizational problem.
What Bobby is saying here isn’t controversial and it shouldn’t surprise anyone. Of course Toronto is a tough place to play. That outside noise everyone talks about helps just as much if not more than it hurts. Feeling pressure is human, but feeling the extra boost from the passion of millions of ravenous fans is also human. That’s how I interpret what Bobby is saying, and that’s the opinion of someone who has lived it so it has validity.
We’ve all held hands and reflected on how toxic some fans and media can be, what drives me nuts is that these conversations go in circles with no real solution. More people = more problems = bigger magnifying glass. People can yell from the rooftops at how we should stop being so reactive or how the media should be better at their jobs but it won’t go anywhere because there’s too many of us.
If you want to categorize toxic fans and media as part of the problem, that’s fine and probably true. That reality is never going to change in Toronto. I’m not saying anyone in the comments is, but implying that it’s the main cause of our trouble is ridiculous. The changes need to be made on the ice and in the FO full stop.
Sounds to me like the leafs need a good therapist working with the team lol.
Insightful comments from Bobby.
“I am playing in probably the worst market to be a professional hockey player, in the league. The end.”
Thanks for posting this!
I don’t understand how a team with the Leafs money doesn’t have a team of world class sports psychologists. And I don’t understand how a professional athlete doesn’t have that “dog” in them somewhere.
so I read a lot of critics here put a lot of blame on Berube’s system and here we have a player truthfully blaming losses on not following the system. So if the players are blaming losses on deviating from the system are they right? Are all the “fans” wrong? Makes me wonder
Overall sounds like a lack of leadership. From the staff, from the bench, in the locker room.
Who is keeping players accountable to play the system and not do their own thing?
Sorry, sounds like they need a rebuild.
Interesting interview and very insightful.
I did find it really odd that preseason it seemed like Maccelli was being brought in to be a “budget Marner” and would play with Matthews and Knies. I remember Bérubé rolled that line in like half a game and then started mixing it up.
He never went back to it until January when he placed Nylander and Maccelli together with Matthews and it started working.
I found it weird that he left Domi and McMann to flail on that line for endless games yet only gave Maccelli like one or a few games. It seems honestly like he hated the guy because he maybe didn’t play his system or something. I don’t know if that’s true but I feel like Robby also doesn’t really play Bérubé hockey – same with Cowan. They were often scratched in lieu of Jarnkrok, Joshua and Domi….
Really questionable coaching
That said, the high visibility of players in toronto is part of the gig. You want to play for the best organization in the NHL with the most money and potential for brand sponsorships and fame? Well people get to know who you are. Not saying stalking players or yelling at them is at all ok but it’s expected that people will care more in a market that lives and breathes hockey versus say Dallas.
Sounds like McMann’s brain fires off as fast as his footspeed. Sucks to see him go; hope he gets his bag.