The Toronto Maple Leafs had seemingly found a diamond in the rough with Bobby McMann. The 30-year-old forward was an undrafted player who came out of nowhere to become a 20-goal scorer.
His success in Toronto pretty much priced him out of Toronto this season. After a decent 15-goal campaign in 2023-24, the Maple Leafs inked McMann to a two-year, $2.7 million deal. The contract looked amazing when he scored 20 goals in 74 games in 2024-25. He followed that up with 19 goals in 60 games this season before being dealt at the NHL trade deadline.
The Leafs got two draft picks for McMann, who would go on to flourish with the Seattle Kraken. The Kraken, for their part, loved McMann so much that they were willing to pay up. Seattle inked McMann to a six-year, $34.5 million deal.
Talk about a massive overpay. The $5.75 million cap hit is contingent on McMann pretty much becoming a 30-goal scorer in the coming seasons. Now, there is a track record behind McMann. He’s got two 20-goal seasons to his credit. But that’s no guarantee he’ll be the top-line winger the Kraken hope he will become.
That’s why the Maple Leafs were right to pass up on McMann. The club could have made better use of nearly $6 million in cap space this offseason. In fact, there’s one crucial reason why the Leafs could find a much more cost-effective replacement for McMann, with a much higher ceiling.
Gavin McKenna Would Easily Replace McMann in Maple Leafs Lineup
If the Toronto Maple Leafs had not landed the first-overall pick, this entire conversation would be different. However, it’s precisely the fact that the Leafs landed the top pick that the calculus has changed.
Assuming Toronto takes Gavin McKenna with the top pick, the Maple Leafs could land a 20-goal scorer from the get-go, without paying as much as Seattle did. McKenna has the potential to step into the Leafs’ lineup and deliver the scoring that McMann did this past season.
Of course, McKenna has a much higher upside. The consensus top pick can become one of the NHL’s next superstars, given his overall skill set. Getting there may take a while. But the time McKenna would need to blossom into an NHL star is par for the course.
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Toronto Already Overpaid for Raddysh
It’s not like the Maple Leafs haven’t already overpaid this offseason. The organization pulled off a massive sign-and-trade deal to acquire Darren Raddysh. The eight-year deal carrying an $8.5 million cap hit is an overpay by any means.
But then again, fans would agree that a top-pairing blueliner was a major pain point for the Maple Leafs this season. As such, if the team was going to overpay for someone, it might have been for a defenseman, and not McMann.
If McMann continues to thrive in Seattle, well, he’ll make a great story. After all, everyone loves a guy who comes out of nowhere to become a star. But for the Maple Leafs, they were right to pass on a guy who is far from a sure thing.
McKenna, for his part, is about as close to a sure thing as there is. It’s just a matter of seeing if he really is the real deal.
Maple Leafs Got It Right by Passing on McMann