The Maple Leafs held a practice and scrimmage at the Ford Performance Centre on Saturday.
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John Tavares is keeping a low profile on his 35th birthday.
“It was a nice morning with my family,” the father of three said with a smile. “So, yeah, I try to keep it quiet around the rink, to be honest, so nothing so far.”
The hockey calendar dictates that his birthdays always tend to be low-key affairs.
“Just more fatherhood and try to relax from the first few days here,” Tavares said of his plan the rest of the day. “It’s always one of the first days of camp, my birthday, so there’s not too much celebrating or really enjoying yourself. It’s trying to get yourself back in the swing of things, adapt, and try to recover. Obviously, a lot of ‘Happy Birthday!’ and well wishes from a lot of people, so it’s been a good day so far.”
A few minutes later, Auston Matthews walked by and smiled.
“Media on his birthday!” the Leafs captain said.
Reporters chuckled. Tavares grinned.
Tavares didn’t seem to mind sharing part of the day with reporters. Per usual, he offered long and thoughtful answers during a scrum that stretched close to nine minutes. As he prepares for his 17th season in the NHL, Tavares continues to embrace every part of the job.
“The feeling I have playing the game is the same as I had as a kid when I first was starting out and falling in love with hockey,” he said. “So, yeah, I just enjoy everything about it. The tough days, the challenges, the grind, everything I got to do to be at the level that I expect to be at and the way that I want to impact the game and help the team. So, it’s all a part of it, and enjoy every bit of it.”
Tavares is coming off a resurgent 74-point season. He scored 38 goals, which was his highest total since potting a career-high 47 during the 2018-19 season.
Last season was a contract year for Tavares, so he could have parlayed the production into a big payday on the open market. Instead, he decided to accept less money and extend for four more years with his hometown team. Tavares’ cap hit will decline from $11 million to $4.38 million, but he gets to stay exactly where he wants to be.
“Less is more, boys,” Craig Berube said with a smile.
Toronto’s coach believes Tavares’ decision “definitely” resonated with teammates.
“I mean, he’s a Leaf, and he wants to be a Leaf,” Berube said. “He wants the opportunity to do something special here with the Leafs. I expected him to be back, to be honest with you, and we’re really glad he’s back here.”
Tavares is grateful for the security the new contract affords.
“Well, it certainly helps in a lot of things,” he said. “You have a lot of predictability to your life and to your career, so that allows you to settle in and kind of focus on the areas that you want to focus on.”
Decision by Tavares to take less money resonates in Leafs room Back in June, John Tavares signed a four-year extension with the Maple Leafs, taking significantly less than his previous contract. Taking a discount to remain in Toronto, Tavares’ coaches and teammates have taken notice, and have gained even more respect for the veteran.
Tavares credits Leafs skating consultant Paul Matheson and player development staff member Patrick O’Sullivan for helping him fend off Father Time.
“I’ve had a lot of people say to me ‘Great year last year,’ but I really feel, if I look at maybe my last three years, specifically when I started doing a lot of work with Paul and Patrick … I really like the way lots of my game has been trending,” Tavares said. “How it’s been building and the consistency, not just offensively, but how it’s all kind of come together, with and without the puck, in many different facets.”
Tavares is showing no signs of slowing down at training camp. He made a slick move around shutdown defenceman Chris Tanev during a drill at Friday’s practice, which created some buzz on social media.
“Got a lot out of it,” Tavares said of his off-season work. “I feel really ready to go and excited.”
Will he indulge with a piece of birthday cake on Saturday night?
“Probably not,” Tavares said with a smile.
Tavares leaves nothing to chance. His detailed routines are the stuff of legend around team.
“I’ve learned a lot from him since I got into the league,” said 24-year-old winger Nick Robertson.
“Just the recovery aspect of it. I think early on in my career when I struggled with some injury problems, I think I really took note of how to recover my body and finding tools, and he’s definitely helped me with that.”
Tavares passed the captaincy to Matthews last summer, but continues to play a big leadership role behind the scenes.
“He sees everything,” said Berube. “You talk about leadership, he’s a guy that takes care of his teammates, and he knows what’s going on with a lot of the players. He’s a guy that I lean on for sure and have conversations with about this, that, what’s going on. He’s got a good feel for everything. He sees everything. I know a lot of times people think he’s in his own world with what he does, but when he’s doing that, he still knows what’s going on.”
Tavares is also well aware of what’s going on in the market and the hunger for a long playoff run. The Leafs haven’t reached the Conference Final since 2002 and have not lifted the Stanley Cup since 1967.
“It’s an amazing place to play,” he said. “Obviously amazing history and tradition. Trying to do something special here that hasn’t been done in a long time, so it’s an amazing opportunity and you don’t take it for granted, so just try to enjoy it and give it everything I got every day.”
Birthday boy Tavares will ‘probably not’ be celebrating with cake September 20th is John Tavares’ birthday, and this year he turns 35 years old. Focusing on training camp, the Maple Leafs’ assistant captain said he won’t indulge in cake or other similar celebrations. Staying strong late in his career, some of the younger Toronto players have taken notice of some of his habits, and have learned to emulate what they find important.
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After the first practice of training camp, the Leafs posted a video on social media that featured players listing their summer highlights.
For Tavares, it was a trip to Europe.
Matthews got a new puppy named “Rico.”
Morgan Rielly simply said, “Today.”
Rielly is clearly eager to turn the page on what was a trying 2024-25 season. The defenceman lost his job on the top power play unit and saw his point total drop from 58 to 41. Rielly finished with the worst plus-minus on the team (-8) and posted his lowest average ice time since the 2014-15 season.
The 31-year-old had a lot of “healthy but challenging” conversations after the season. What conclusion did he reach about what went wrong?
“I think I’ll kind of keep that to myself.”
Chatted with Morgan Rielly today about last season, his summer and the path ahead for the Leafs defenceman:
“My game dropped … I take a lot of pride in my career, and I was really disappointed in myself. That’s a hard thing to admit and hard thing to come to.”
— Joshua Clipperton (@JClipperton_CP) September 18, 2025
Rielly says he “left no stone unturned” in planning for a bounce-back campaign and arrived at training camp at 219 pounds, down six from last season.
“If you watch him out there today, his skating, you know, for me, is everything,” Berube said after a scrimmage on Saturday. “He moved extremely well. He was up in the play, up the ice. He looked very confident to me.”
Rielly downplayed the weight loss saying it wasn’t an off-season goal, but confirmed that he’s feeling really good so far at camp.
“We’ll see,” he quickly added. “I mean, we’re Day 3, so we’ve got a long way to go. The expectation for this time of year is that everyone is in their best shape and ready to go.”
The Leafs have yet to work on special teams on the ice, but Berube already revealed that Rielly will reclaim his job as the quarterback on the top power-play unit. Mitch Marner had taken over that spot last year as part of a five-forward alignment.
“It’s a role where I’m comfortable and I’m just going to take a lot of pride in that area of the game,” Rielly said.
Rielly on reason for struggles last season: ‘I’ll keep that to myself’ Morgan Rielly played in all 82 games for the Maple Leafs last season, but saw a dip in production, putting up only 41 points during that span. This compared to his previous campaign, where he registered 58 points in 10 fewer games. When asked about the struggles, the Toronto defenceman wouldn’t say, but admits that entering camp this year, he is feeling great.
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Marner served as an alternate captain with the Leafs, but the team doesn’t plan to give his ‘A’ to another player. The plan is to stick with Tavares and Rielly as the only two alternates.
“We have four or five other guys that could easily have an ‘A’ on their jersey, but there’s no need for that,” Berube said. “They could still lead without one.”
Berube is hoping William Nylander, who is the longest-serving forward on the Leafs, will take on more.
“He can take a bigger step in the leadership role,” Berube said of the 29-year-old Swede. “He’s been a player a long time on this team. He’s been around these guys. We lost [Marner] so, you know, in my opinion, Willy can step up and take a little bit of bigger leadership role here.”
What does that look like?
“Stepping up in the dressing room, on the bench,” Berube explained. “Just the voice more than anything for me. And leading with playing the right way, just things like that, that for me is leadership. Taking care of your teammates, helping them out in situations, maybe they need a little kick in the ass, you know, like, that’s all leadership for me. That’s what leadership’s about.”
Berube pushes Nylander to take on bigger leadership role William Nylander is known as an offensive force for the Maple Leafs, but has seen some of his game change with head coach Craig Berube. Happy with his progress, Berube is hoping the winger can take ”a bigger step in the leadership roll” with an assistant captain now out of town.
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Matthew Knies has already made it a goal to be more of a leader this season.
“There’s definitely a leadership role I can step into,” he said when asked about areas for growth in his game. “I could take on a little bit more this year.”
Knies was Toronto’s youngest player last season and could be again this year, but the Arizona native is quickly becoming a big presence in the dressing room.
“I’m just getting more comfortable with all the guys,” the 22-year-old said. “Hopefully there’s a little bit of younger guys on our team that I can help out a little bit and try to be more vocal and, you know, just be a good example for everybody.”
Knies represented Toronto at the NHL Media Tour in Las Vegas before training camp.
“It was cool,” he said. “It was a long day, you know, a lot of interviews, a lot of cameras in your face, but, yeah, it was fun. Happy I could step in for Auston [who was unavailable].”
After posting 29 goals and 29 assists last season, Knies inked a six-year, $46.5 million extension with the Leafs in the summer.
“I made a huge step last season and I want to do that again,” he said. “I just got to work on my consistency, you know, play a full 82-game season, not find any shortage of scoring. I think if I play my game, play strong and play physical through 82 games, I think I’m gonna be very successful and help this team out a lot.”
Knies looking for bigger leadership role with Leafs Matthew Knies is coming off his best season where he tallied 58 points in an increased role. This season, the forward hopes to work on his consistency and develop more as a leader on the team. Knies also had the chance to represent the team during the NHL Media tour and reflected on one confusion question.
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Nick Robertson scored on a breakaway before adding an empty netter as Team Blue shutout Team White 2-0 in Saturday’s 30-minute scrimmage.
“It was fun,” said Robertson. “I was happy to get into a scrimmage there, just be with the guys. And yeah, it was good, just kind of break off the rust before pre-season starts.”
The Leafs open their six-game pre-season schedule on Sunday afternoon in Ottawa.
After being scratched in 10 of 13 playoff games, Robertson is off to a good start in his bid to earn a spot in the opening night lineup.
The lack of goals from the rest of the team on Saturday didn’t bother Berube.
“The intensity was good,” the coach noted. “I thought the guys were trying to do the right things out there, play the right way. It wasn’t like a summertime shinny hockey game. I was pretty happy with the scrimmage.”
Matthews generated some chances and Berube offered a positive review of Matias Maccelli, who is getting an audition as the top line right winger early at camp.
“I liked him today. I thought he did some good things up there, seeing he can form some chemistry with Matthews and Knies. He’s a playmaker. You can see that he sees the ice extremely well. It’s a change for him coming here for sure. It’s a big change in my opinion and probably a pretty good change of how he’s played the game and how we want him to play the game. So it’s going to take a little time.
Anthony Stolarz and Artur Akhtyamov split the shutout for Team Blue.
Dennis Hildeby posted a clean sheet in 15 minutes of work. Vyacheslav Peksa allowed one goal.
Joseph Woll missed Saturday’s workout due to illness.
Third-line centre Nicolas Roy (lower-body) and third-pair defenceman Simon Benoit (upper-body) missed the session as well.
Max Domi also remained sidelined, but Berube indicated the veteran winger, who was supposed to start on the top line before tweaking a lower-body injury before camp, will skate with the non-playing group on Sunday morning.
Leafs Ice Chips: Robertson stars in scrimmage; Roy ‘nicked up’ Ahead of their pre-season opener on Sunday, the Maple Leafs held a practice, and a half-hour scrimmage Saturday. The game was scoreless late before Nick Robertson scored the winner on a breakaway before sinking an empty netter. TSN’s Mark Masters has more on Leafs camp, including who was slotted alongside Toronto’s top duo of Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies.
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Lines in Saturday’s scrimmage:
TEAM BLUE
Knies – Matthews – Maccelli
Lorentz – Laughton – Robertson
Pezzetta – Kampf – Jarnkrok
Barbolini – Groulx – Tverberg
Rielly – Carlo
Thrun – Mermis
Rifai – Danford
Benning
Stolarz
Akhtyamov
TEAM WHITE
McMann – Tavares – W.Nylander
Joshua – Shaw – Cowan
Sim – Quillan – Lettieri
Boyd – Haymes – A.Nylander
McCabe – Tanev
Ekman-Larsson – Myers
Webber – Villeneuve
Smith
Hildeby
Peksa
The @MapleLeafs have returned the following players to their respective junior teams.
D Rylan Fellinger (Flint)
D Nathan Mayes (Spokane)
F Tyler Hopkins (Kingston)
F Harry Nansi (Owen Sound)
F Matthew Hlacar (Kitchener)
F Sam McCue (Brantford)
— Leafs PR (@LeafsPR) September 20, 2025