Photo credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images
Although there have been glimpses of his potential, Toronto Maple Leafs forward Bobby McMann hasn’t performed to a level worthy enough of keeping him in the top-six.
Last season was a pleasant surprise for the Toronto Maple Leafs when they had Bobby McMann come out of nowhere and score 20 goals and look ever the blossoming star who could certainly add a new dimension to their offense.
While he has been physical as ever this year, the offense hasn’t come and for fans of the team who want some consistency in their lineup, they are getting pretty tired of McMann.
Why Bobby McMann’s Scoring Drought Is Becoming Hard to Ignore
Some are even questioning whether or not he’s even worthy of a top-six spot:
For McMann, who has been pointless in his last eight games, there seems to be a lack of urgency on his end, and while he is normally one who can speed away and get some shots off, we have yet to see a lot of that breakaway potential.
Although his spot is pretty safe for now given that the team is dealing with some injuries, when those players return it’s going to be hard to warrant a spot for him, especially since Nick Robertson has picked things up.
The team could sit Max Domi or Calle Jarnkrok, but they have at least provided some modicum of offense and impact over the last few games, where as McMann has been largely ineffective and not shooting as much as he should.
For comparison, his seven shots over the last five games is nearly half of Max Domi’s shots over the same span, and Domi is historically known to pass up a shot for the extra pass.
McMann can let it fly and why he is hesitant to or unable to get that quick release is making things really tough for Craig Berube to keep putting him in such an important spot.
There’s a lot of time for him to turn things around and a solid game against Pittsburgh would do wonders for his confidence and solidify his spot in the lineup for now though at 29 years old he’s only got a bit of time left to really impress.
Another stretch of scoreless games like we saw last year, McMann’s success may end up flying by just as fast as it came in.
Though as we’ve seen before, he can just as quickly turn it back on and make a huge difference.
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