Leafs' Bobby McMann Coming Into 2025-26 Season With a Chip on His Shoulder After Loss to Florida

Leafs forward Bobby McMann reveals his thoughts on how the season ended, despite the first place finish, and is coming into 2025-26 with a chip on his shoulder.

Despite claiming the Atlantic Division for the first time in over 2 decades, the Toronto Maple Leafs didn't finish off the season how they had hoped, after falling to the Florida Panthers in Game 7 during the second round of the playoffs.

The Leafs won the first 2 games of the series before blowing multiple leads in Game 3 and then getting blown out on home ice in Games 5 and 7, much to the chagrin of the fanbase.

Nevertheless, there were several positives to take out of the season as a whole, at least according to forward Bobby McMann. The 3rd year forward, who hit the 20-goal mark for the first time in his career, acknowledges the playoff defeat was tough, but it was a learning experience they will take with them heading into the 2025-26 season.

We didn't get the result we wanted, but we finished first in the regular season, and I gained a lot of experience playing in my first playoff series. It was hard to go through and not come out with a win, but I think we learned a lot from it.

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McMann was definitely one of the many bright spots from the previous campaign, even beyond the 20-goal season. He formed great chemistry with almost every line he played with, he provided great secondary offense, and added a bit of snarl and physicality with 136 hits and 23 blocked shots.

What the Leafs took from those losses remains to be seen but we will soon find out with training camp right around the corner and the 2025-26 regular season debut less than 2 months away.

They underwent a complete makeover this off-season that was off-set by the loss of Mitch Marner. Brad Treliving and company added a lot more depth with the likes of Dakota Joshua, Matias Maccelli, and Nic Roy, which assuredly makes the Leafs a more blue collar club than we're used to seeing.

McMann will look to improve on his 20-goal campaign with new teammates and linemates but only time will tell if they can actually bounce back from their loss to the Panthers in a positive manner.