The Maple Leafs Lost the Bobby McMann Trade in More Ways

There’s an interesting look today at all 20 trades Brad Treliving made while he was Maple Leafs general manager, with TheLeafsNation’s Alex Hobson grading each one as a win, loss or draw. One of the trades that caught my attention was Bobby McMann to Seattle. Hobson grades it a loss, largely because Toronto may have waited too long to trade him after failing to get him signed to an extension.

That makes sense on the surface. But the McMann story has always felt a little different to me. I liked the player, and I’ve followed him closely because, as a professor at the University of Alberta, I knew about his connection to Wainwright, Alberta. He was a big kid who could skate, could shoot and, when given the opportunity, could score.

I also knew that he wanted to stay in Toronto. And yet it sometimes felt like the Maple Leafs weren't quite sure what to do with him.

I’m Interested in How McMann Was Treated Once He Got to Seattle.

So I'm less interested in whether Toronto got enough for McMann at the trade deadline than I am in what happened once he got to Seattle. The Kraken gave him a chance; he scored 10 goals in 18 games, and then they signed him to an extension.

That makes me wonder whether the trade might eventually look very different from McMann’s perspective. Maybe Toronto lost the trade. Or maybe Bobby McMann finally found the place where somebody was prepared to let him be Bobby McMann.

McMann wanted to stay in Toronto, and the Maple Leafs tried to extend him late, but couldn't get a deal done. Then they traded him to Seattle for a 2027 second-round pick and a 2026 fourth-rounder. At the time, that looked like a pretty small return for a big winger who had been scoring goals. Then he went to Seattle and scored 10 goals in 18 games.

That not only got people's attention. It made the trade look even worse.

Maybe McMann Just Needed Someone to Believe in Him.

There was always a scorer in McMann. That's what I saw, anyway. He had size. He could get to the net. He could shoot the puck. He wasn't afraid of the physical side of the game. But in Toronto, it often seemed as though he was being asked to do everything except the thing he did best: score goals.

That's a tough situation for a young player. If you aren't getting consistent opportunities, it's awfully hard to build confidence. And if you're not playing with players who can get you the puck in scoring areas, you can suddenly start looking like a player who can't score.

Maybe the problem wasn't McMann. Maybe the fit was wrong.

I don't know what McMann thought of his time in Toronto, other than that he wanted to stay. But there is something satisfying about watching what happened once he got to Seattle. He scored, and the Kraken clearly liked what they saw enough to sign him to an extension.

It’s that simple, except for the more complicated question of why Toronto never seemed to find the right way to use him.

Sometimes a Trade Is Also a Fresh Start.

And maybe that's the part Maple Leafs fans should think about.

McMann didn't get the first-round pick some people thought Toronto might get for him. The Maple Leafs may very well have mishandled the timing of the trade. And perhaps they simply didn't appreciate what they had until it was gone.

But McMann may end up being happier for it. He's now playing in Western Canada, much closer to where he grew up. More importantly, he's with a team that seems to have a pretty clear idea of what it wants from him. That's worth something.

So, the Maple Leafs may have lost the trade on paper. But, for me, there’s a nice ending to all this because I'm not sure Bobby McMann lost a thing. In fact, my guess is that someday we may look back at this differently.

Sometimes the player who leaves isn't the one who should be feeling bad about the trade. Sometimes he just needed somebody to give him a better chance.