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TSN Toronto Maple Leafs Reporter

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TORONTO – Last season in late March, the Toronto Maple Leafs were fraught with tension in a battle for their playoff lives. Every potential point until the penultimate contest of the regular season was instrumental in determining the Maple Leafs’ fate, and apprehension was palpable.

But the Leafs have come a long way since then.

Safely ensconced in a playoff spot with seven games to go before the NHL’s second season begins, Toronto held a laid-back practice on Sunday that starred a very special guest – Patrick Marleau’s son, Brody. He joined the team before and after their workout to celebrate his ninth birthday in style, a presence that marked a clear departure from the pressure-packed home stretch the Leafs went through 12 months ago.

“[It definitely] lightens the mood,” said Mitch Marner after practice. “It’s always fun to hang out with them; the whole [Marleau] family has a lot of energy. They never stop moving. [Brody’s] the one that’s trying to steal my girlfriend, so I like to give it to him a little bit about that. The entire Marleau family has been great since they’ve been here; they’ve come in with open arms.”

Marner and fellow sophomore Auston Matthews have become close with Marleau and his four sons since the veteran signed a three-year deal with the Leafs last summer. The eldest, Landon, visited Leafs’ practice back on Oct. 8, just days after the regular season began. Since then, Marner and Matthews have engaged in heated mini-stick tilts with the brothers inside their basement “war zone,” and the boisterous Marleau crew has made a handful of visits to the Leafs’ dressing room, each sporting their own customized sweaters – No. 12 for Landon, No. 72 for Brody, No. 92 for Jagger, and no number yet for youngest sibling Caleb.

With the Leafs on a hot streak that includes six wins in their last seven games, a franchise-record 13-game home win streak, and tying franchise records for most wins in a single-season (45) and home wins (26) with Saturday’s 4-3 victory over the Detroit Red Wings, there was no better time for the Leafs’ designated team dad to bring his offspring to the office.

“It was good, it’s always fun [skating with them],” said Marleau. “Especially when it’s their birthday, I try to make it a little extra special bringing him in here. He had a lot of fun. He’s feisty [on the ice], but he just liked having fun out there.”

“All his kids are really feisty, especially his two younger ones,” added Matthews. “They’re fun to play mini-sticks with, though, because they always try to fight each other and Mitch and I just watch from afar. It gets intense in there.”

While the Leafs went through their usual drills and line rushes, Brody retreated back and forth to the expansive dressing room. At some point, he made an important FaceTime call back to his grandmother in California, giddily showing her his personalized stall right next to dad.

That excitement is infectious in its own way for the Leafs, who are tasked with keeping their energy up even with little to play for in the coming two weeks. Toronto is locked into the Atlantic Division’s third seed and unlikely to catch either Boston or Tampa ahead of them before the postseason, but that's no excuse to let up. Mike Babcock wants the Leafs to hit the playoffs rolling, not reeling.

“It’s nice [to set records], and what it shows is that you’re getting more confident as a group and you expect to win,” he said. “But in reality, what we’re trying to do is just keep getting better. So [you ask yourself], ‘is our power play going good? ‘Is our forecheck good?’ The Red Wings had us in trouble a bunch of times last night with competitiveness, our second period wasn’t very good. There are lots of things we can do to get this group to be better, and we’re going to have to be better if we want to be playing in the spring.”

The chance to do just that is what drew Marleau to the Leafs in the first place, a club chock-full of skill and talent worth uprooting his Bay Area-based family for. For Tyler Bozak, who has spent the entirety of his nine-year NHL career in Toronto, easing into a playoff run with a little levity around the Leafs this time of year is a luxury he’s never really experienced – and one he won’t take for granted.

“We haven’t really accomplished anything yet, but we’re obviously happy with the way things are going, and want to keep that going,” said Bozak. “It’s an important time of year to build that confidence and we have to keep that up. For me, being through some tough times like we have, to be able to turn it around and be a part of that has been a pretty cool thing.”