{"id":538250,"date":"2026-03-15T15:38:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T15:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/538250\/"},"modified":"2026-03-15T15:38:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T15:38:11","slug":"mcmann-makes-big-first-impression-with-kraken","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/538250\/","title":{"rendered":"McMann makes big first impression with Kraken"},"content":{"rendered":"

VANCOUVER \u2013 Bobby McMann knew things would feel a little different on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Playing his first game in a Seattle Kraken jersey, the former Toronto Maple Leafs forward wanted to make an impact with his new team.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt almost resembles, in a way, your first game,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got an entirely new group, new organization, new fans. You want to make a great first impression.\u201d<\/p>\n

McMann made a great impression on the score sheet, tallying two goals and an assist as the Kraken (30-26-9) thumped the Vancouver Canucks 5-2.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes things go your way a little bit more than other nights and, luckily, that was tonight for me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a fun one. It\u2019s always nice to get the win, and then when you contribute, it makes it that much better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

Seattle acquired the 29-year-old athlete from Toronto ahead of the NHL\u2019s trade deadline on March 6 in exchange for a fourth-round pick in the 2026 draft and a conditional second-round selection in 2027.<\/p>\n

It was a sizable change for McMann, who went undrafted before signing with the Maple Leaves as a free agent in April 2022.<\/p>\n

He played 199 regular-season games for Toronto, amassing 52 goals and 36 assists, and added another three assists over 13 playoff appearances in last season.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tRelated Videos\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Click<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t2:40
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tToronto Maple Leafs hold state of the union amid middle of winless skid\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\tPrevious Video<\/p>\n

\t\tNext Video<\/p>\n

Saturday marked McMann\u2019s first game since March 2. The Leafs opted to sit him ahead of the deadline and, after the trade, the native of Wainwright, Alta., waited a full week for his work visa before finally slotting into the Kraken\u2019s lineup on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Get<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tGet daily National news<\/p>\n

Get daily Canada news delivered to your inbox so you’ll never miss the day’s top stories.<\/p>\n

The new addition was quick to make an impact.<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

McMann\u2019s first of the night \u2014 and 20th of the season \u2014 came 19:10 into the first period when he beat Vancouver netminder Nikita Tolopilo with a sharp-angle shot on a power play.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought (Shane Wright) tipped it maybe because I didn\u2019t know if that one was going in with the shot that I had,\u201d he said. \u201cSo it was more of a pass to him, but I think it just fooled the goalie because I think he just missed it kind of thing, and trickled in.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added another tally early in the third, becoming the first player to score multiple goals in his debut for the Kraken.<\/p>\n

McMann added speed to Seattle\u2019s top line, which also includes centre Matty Beniers and captain Jordan Eberle, said head coach Lane Lambert.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou saw it right away, first shift when he\u2019s tracking the puck and he\u2019s got a ton of speed and it\u2019s a welcome addition for us from that standpoint,\u201d he said. \u201cObviously the goals he scored, he had a real good chance to make it three as well. I think it went off the knob of the goalie there. But he played well.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not only the six-foot-two forward\u2019s speed that helps, said Beniers, but his physicality, too.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMore on Sports
\n\t\t\tMore videos\n\t\t<\/p>\n

And Saturday was just the beginning, he added.<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

\u201cAs time goes on, you play more and more with a guy, you start to realize their tendencies, where they go on the ice, what they like to do with the puck,\u201d Beniers said. \u201cSo, you keep learning but pretty good start.\u201d<\/p>\n

SKID SNAPPED<\/p>\n

The result snapped Seattle\u2019s four-game losing skid and moved the Kraken to within one point of the Western Conference\u2019s second wild-card playoff spot.<\/p>\n

The stretch of losses was tough to take for a team that\u2019s hoping to contend this post-season, said winger Jared McCann.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to get out of, I feel like, especially when you have times where you\u2019re playing great and you\u2019re still losing,\u201d he said. \u201cI think that\u2019s the most frustrating part. But it\u2019s a long season, you\u2019re going to have ups and downs. You just got to try to stay level headed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think when we were losing, the pressure was building, and we had a good talk before the game tonight, just kind of play a little more free and create with the puck, and it was able to show tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019CONNOR\u2019S 100TH<\/p>\n

Canucks winger Drew O\u2019Connor recorded an assist on Evander Kane\u2019s first-period goal, marking the 100th point of his NHL career.<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old American forward said the milestone is a special one.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, if you told me 10 years ago I\u2019d have one point in the NHL, I\u2019d be happy,\u201d he said. \u201cSo to get to 100 is meaningful.\u201d<\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 15, 2026.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2026 The Canadian Press\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"VANCOUVER \u2013 Bobby McMann knew things would feel a little different on Saturday night. Playing his first game…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":538251,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,9976,86454,5239,8461,72243,3648,72244,448,82,72245,72246,746,72247,452,86455,86456],"class_list":["post-538250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canucks","tag-canucks-hockey","tag-hockey","tag-leafs","tag-leafs-hockey","tag-maple-leafs","tag-national-hockey-league","tag-nhl","tag-sports","tag-toronto-hockey","tag-toronto-leafs","tag-toronto-maple-leafs","tag-toronto-sports","tag-vancouver-canucks","tag-vancouver-hockey","tag-vancouver-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=538250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538250\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/538251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=538250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=538250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=538250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}