{"id":944146,"date":"2026-10-28T16:38:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T16:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/944146\/"},"modified":"2026-10-28T16:38:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T16:38:08","slug":"how-young-stars-have-changed-dynamic-of-maple-leafs-room","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/944146\/","title":{"rendered":"How young stars have changed dynamic of Maple Leafs’ room"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2014 One month into this Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a>\u2019 campaign, there\u2019s one truth that\u2019s been undeniable.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been clear since mid-September, when this group convened for the start of training camp, and for those of us around the team regularly, it\u2019s been reinforced daily since: for all the on-ice issues that might remain, the roster shortcomings that still need addressing, there is no doubting that off the ice, in the room, there\u2019s a different feeling around these Maple Leafs this season. A different energy.<\/p>\n

A summer of sweeping change will do that. Rewind through the previous few years of tumult in Toronto and you find a group that wasn\u2019t granted a real chance to break free of its scars the way this year\u2019s blank-slate squad has \u2014\u00a02023-24 brought a new general manager in Brad Treliving, but the return of head coach Sheldon Keefe; 2024-25 brought a new head coach in Craig Berube, but with Treliving still at the helm; 2025-26 saw the organization part ways with president Brendan Shanahan, but with Berube and Treliving running it back.<\/p>\n

But this year\u2019s group \u2014\u00a0with half its roster turned over, a new coaching staff leading its bench, and a new front office bringing to life a new vision \u2014\u00a0seems more novel, more untethered from Toronto\u2019s past pain than anyone expected coming into the season.<\/p>\n

You could feel it on the morning of the season opener, at the dawn of this new campaign, fresh off the team\u2019s trip to captain Auston Matthews<\/a>\u2019 home state. By that point, the new recruits had been in the city for weeks, working at trying to establish some genuine bonds with the returning Maple Leafs vets before the daily chaos of the season kicked into gear.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, I talked to a couple guys, and they really went out of their way, early, to go golfing, to have dinners \u2014\u00a0they felt like they got a really good foundation that way,\u201d head coach Jim Hiller said in late September, before the season got underway. \u201cBut what I\u2019ve been told is that trip to Arizona was worth its weight in gold \u2014 the night that they had together with Auston in his house really cemented an early foundation for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The opening few weeks of the season made clear just how much the squad’s new characters added to the room \u2014 the boisterous Nick Paul, the quirky Kirill Marchenko, and an old friend in Jack Roslovic, with his tales of a teenage Matthews. But there was another pivotal addition that injected some much-needed life into the group this season: the young blood.<\/p>\n

Where the Leafs of the past few years seemed a veteran group trying to summit a mountain of expectations, the story of the 2026-27 crew so far has been the emergence of the two cubs bounding around the den, 21-year-old Easton Cowan<\/a> and 18-year-old Gavin McKenna<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On the very first day of camp this season, the Maple Leafs\u2019 captain waxed poetic about the arrival of the 2026 No. 1 pick following in his footsteps, as the pair, along with fellow former first-overall pick John Tavares, held court in a conference room at the team\u2019s practice facility in Etobicoke, Ont.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m as excited at him joining the team as anybody else,\u201d Matthews had said then, through a wide grin. \u201cI mean, it’s not every day you get the first-overall pick and you get a player and person of his calibre. I want to get to know him, I want to build that relationship on and off the ice. We want him to feel as comfortable as possible, and for him to come in here and just focus on playing hockey, working hard, being a good teammate. I mean, that’s really what it’s all about. Everything else will take care of itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fast-forward a month, and the captain\u2019s lived up to his word, taking the teenager under his wing. The two have developed a special bond through their first few weeks as teammates, one that’s easy to spot when they\u2019re chopping it up during practice, when the captain goes out of his way to cheer on the youngest Leaf’s on-ice successes. As was the case earlier this month, when the kid scored his first big-league goal and earned First Star honours for his efforts.<\/p>\n

Matthews, camped out in the Scotiabank Arena tunnel with McKenna before he took his own Second Star spin, turned to the 18-year-old beaming: \u201cI\u2019m going to stay for your applause,\u201d he told him. \u201cThat\u2019s how pumped I am.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think when you bring in some new, young, elite talent, it\u2019s always exciting,\u201d Matthews said of the teenager. \u201cIt\u2019s been a lot of fun getting to know him, spending some time with him. I just think the more time we spend together, the more comfortable we\u2019ve gotten. We\u2019re forming a pretty good relationship, so it\u2019s been a blast. He\u2019s an incredible person, with a great head on his shoulders.\u201d<\/p>\n

These moments, of teammates gravitating to the young winger,\u00a0have become common through the season\u2019s opening month. We only see a snippet of what life in the Maple Leafs\u2019 room truly looks like, speaking with them only in the moments right after a game or a skate. Still, it\u2019s become a familiar sight to see McKenna joking with veterans Brandon Duhaime or Nick Paul, or palling around with fellow young gun Cowan.<\/p>\n

A week ago, as we traversed the bowels of Nationwide Arena after the Maple Leafs took down the Blue Jackets in front of a hostile Columbus crowd, it was McKenna and 17-season veteran Oliver Ekman-Larsson who emerged from the club\u2019s locker room sharing a laugh together, each holding a slice of pizza as they made the trek through the barn to the team bus.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe vibes are great,\u201d Cowan said earlier this season, as this new dynamic started to take shape. \u201cJust how they\u2019re welcoming me, and obviously Gavin too, as a young guy \u2014\u00a0everyone\u2019s been great to us. I\u2019m sure he would say the same thing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cLike I\u2019ve been saying, some young juice and some veterans \u2014 it goes a long way.\u201d<\/p>\n

There may be no greater indication of the shift in vibes this season than the mystery goal celebration that\u2019s quickly becoming a moment in the city.<\/p>\n

It started in camp, McKenna first breaking out the one-arm bobbing-glove celly at the Ford Performance Centre in response to a teammate\u2019s goal. He hit it again when he potted his own first goal as an NHLer, four games into the year. In the weeks since, it\u2019s taken on a life of its own \u2014\u00a0Matthews has broken it out, Cowan\u2019s broken it out, even depth winger Zack MacEwan and goaltender Anthony Stolarz have hit the yet-to-be-named celebration. Videos on social media show fans in the stands imitating it, too, and more still back at home.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did it in college,\u201d McKenna explained after practice last week with a chuckle. \u201cIt was like, if someone did something cool, or they\u2019re a beauty, then you do that. I started doing it here with the guys \u2014\u00a0it\u2019s pretty cool to see it catch on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Needless to say, his former college teammates have taken notice.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re pretty pumped,\u201d the teenager said. \u201cI\u2019ve got a lot of people sending me those clips. The Penn State boys are pretty fired up.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, too, are the teammates he\u2019s suiting up with now.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe energy in the locker room day in and day out\u2019s been great,\u201d Matthews said recently. \u201cThe guys, the environment that we\u2019re in, it\u2019s just so much fun. It\u2019s competitive. You know, a lot of joking around, a lot of chirping one another \u2014 it\u2019s just been a lot of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can tell \u2014 the energy here\u2019s infectious,\u201d MacEwan added. \u201cThe guys are really gelling well. Everybody loves coming to the rink.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond the general turnover and the slew of new faces, the reason for the renewed spirit among the group seems clear.<\/p>\n

\u201cYoung influx of kids that have a lot of energy,\u201d assessed Stolarz. \u201cThey really bring out the best of everyone. It\u2019s an exciting time to be a Maple Leaf.\u201d<\/p>\n

Key to the equation, though, is that the kids haven\u2019t just been chipping away on the fringes. Still only 14 games into his NHL career, McKenna\u2019s shown glimpses of elite skill, has found a home on the top power-play unit, and has come up with plays that have put wins on the board for the Maple Leafs. And Cowan, in his sophomore season, now seemingly free of the weight of expectations that hung heavy on his shoulders last year, has emerged as one of Toronto\u2019s most important contributors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I like most of all is he\u2019s really determined \u2014\u00a0he\u2019s early at the rink, he\u2019s really taking this seriously at a real young age,\u201d Hiller said of the 21-year-old in September. \u201cIt\u2019s easy to say, then there\u2019s all these things that you have to do. And when I see him getting to the rink early, stretching and eating and then going into the gym, that tells me he\u2019s on the right path.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the weeks since those early signs, the Strathroy, Ont., standout has become a pivotal source of offence for these Leafs, potting eight points over his past seven games and earning a raise to Matthews\u2019 left side.<\/p>\n

The winger\u2019s outing Monday seemed something of a microcosm of his young career to this point \u2014\u00a0some early stumbles, some humbling from his coach, before the kid returned to the ice flying, put a puck in the net, and tried his best to drag the Maple Leafs back into it.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s exceeded my expectations \u2014 and I had high expectations for him,\u201d Hiller said of Cowan after his breakout night in Columbus, reflecting on a conversation he had with the winger before the season began. “He told me this is what he was going to do. So he\u2019s living up to his end of the bargain. \u2026 I think a lot of players, they have high expectations for themselves. But as a young player, it\u2019s hard to fulfill those expectations this early, especially some of the stuff with his game that he had to change a little bit. But he\u2019s done it so far.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just understanding how the NHL works. It\u2019s one thing how junior works, it\u2019s one thing how college works, one thing how the American League works. How does the NHL work? You\u2019ve got to understand that. I think he\u2019s gotten there.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s Cowan\u2019s perspective on his own potential, and his own shortcomings, that\u2019s impressed the Maple Leafs coaching staff most.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore I told him what my expectations were for him, he told me what his expectations were for himself. And I thought that was really important, because he had a better picture than I did,\u201d Hiller said. \u201cHe knew what he could do more so than I did. And he\u2019s done that. \u2026 Now, the hardest thing for a young player is to be able to do that Monday night and Tuesday night and Thursday night and Saturday night.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSo far this year, there\u2019s been a couple little dips, but let\u2019s be honest, he\u2019s been very, very consistent. We know what the game looks like. I think that\u2019s the biggest part of it \u2014 to be able to do it night after night.\u201d<\/p>\n

For both young Leafs, there is growth still to come, progress still to find. As is expected from a pair of talents who\u2019ve yet to hit 100 games in the big leagues, combined. But beyond their own performance, the kids have already given something significant to this Maple Leafs campaign, bringing this group together as it charts a new path this season.<\/p>\n

And the improved cohesion in the room has been good for more than just a few heartier laughs off the ice. To hear them tell it, it\u2019s giving these Leafs more reason to play for each other, to find a way through nights like Monday\u2019s disappointment, back to progress on the other side.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that emotion, that energy, carries over into the games,\u201d Matthews said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter who scores\u00a0\u2014 everybody\u2019s excited, everybody\u2019s happy. It\u2019s just, everything\u2019s about the team. The team\u2019s been first all this time, and that\u2019s what\u2019s most important. That\u2019s what I feel is driving us right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

That renewed team spirit culminated in one particularly memorable moment a week ago, when heart-on-his-sleeve veteran Troy Stecher potted a final-minute game-winner to lift his Leafs over the visiting New York Rangers.\u00a0The reaction from the defenceman\u2019s teammates on the bench \u2014\u00a0jumping and hollering and leaping into each other\u2019s arms \u2014\u00a0might\u2019ve been more raucous than that of the fans packing the Scotiabank Arena stands.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know what was great,\u201d Hiller said that night, after the dust settled on the hard-earned win. \u201cI just saw the goal on TV, so I got to see the\u00a0front\u00a0of the bench, and saw them\u00a0\u2014 that makes you feel good. They were excited. They were happy. For Stech, I\u2019m sure \u2014 happy we scored, happy we won the game. But that\u2019s a lot of emotion for a game that wasn\u2019t in overtime.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, it\u2019s a regular-season game in October. It was great to see. A great sign.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 One month into this Toronto Maple Leafs\u2019 campaign, there\u2019s one truth that\u2019s been undeniable. It\u2019s been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":944147,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":["post-944146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/944146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=944146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/944146\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/944147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=944146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=944146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=944146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}