Coming off the most disappointing season in recent memory, the Toronto Maple Leafs have made sweeping changes to the organization with the hopes of turning things around this upcoming year.
A new general manager in John Chayka, a new head coach in Jim Hiller and new faces all over the roster through trades and free agency have the Maple Leafs primed to improve upon a last-place finish in 2025-26.
The changes have veteran forward Steven Lorentz excited to get rolling, as he joined OverDrive on TSN1050 on Tuesday to discuss his expectations for next year, which new player he is most excited to be sharing the ice with and his role on the team.
“It’s definitely exciting,” Lorentz said on Tuesday. “We’ve made a lot of changes from the top down ... but every single new guy that we’ve brought in, I think I’m decently familiar with and I’m excited to get to know these guys from the coaches to the management.
“It’s going to be a different look and I’m just excited to get to work. I’ve watched a lot of [their] interviews and clips on social media and they just seem so excited to be a part of such a great organization.”
Toronto finished worst in the Atlantic Division with 78 points behind a 32-36-14 record under head coach Craig Berube this past season. It marked the first time since the 2015-16 campaign that the Leafs did not qualify for the postseason, and only the third time in the past nine seasons they finished with fewer than 100 points.
“Obviously when your team doesn’t do so well there’s going to be some changes in the off-season,” Lorentz said.
“We’ve made a lot of changes from the top down, they’ve moved on from some guys, and that’s the unfortunate part of the business because they were all good guys, they were good people, and that’s what happens when you underperform. It’s such a big market with big expectations, that stuff happens.”
Some of the key additions the Maple Leafs made to the roster include the signings of forwards Teddy Blueger, Colton Sissons and Jack Roslovic and defenceman Darren Raddysh, trading to acquire forward Nick Paul from the Tampa Bay Lightning and drafting Penn State forward Gavin McKenna with the first-overall pick in the NHL Draft in June.
But the signing that has Lorentz most excited is that of goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, who won two Vezina Trophies with the Columbus Blue Jackets and two Stanley Cups with the Florida Panthers in his storied career.
“He’s an expert planner. He’s so meticulous with his pre-game routine ... he’s such a goalie,” Lorentz said of his former Panthers teammate. “He’s calm and a little quirky but he puts the work in. He’s one of the first guys there at the gym, he’s there after practice for hours. He truly cares and he’s one of the nicest, most humble superstars out there and it was a pleasure being able to get to know him.
“He always made me feel like, even though I wasn’t always in the lineup, I was such a big part of the team and I think that’s why we had so much success in Florida - it didn’t matter what level you were in the organization, their top dogs, their superstars made sure everybody was taken care of, everybody felt they had a place on that team. It’s a privilege that we get to have him for three years and I’m excited to get back to work with Bobby again.”
There was one addition to the team that caught Lorentz off guard - the addition of Ottawa Senators legend Daniel Alfredsson to the Maple Leafs coaching staff. As a Toronto native and Maple Leafs fan growing up, Lorentz has some deep-seated feelings regarding the Maple Leafs’ archrival of the early 21st century.
“Watching [Alfredsson] battle against [Maple Leafs assistant general manager] Mats [Sundin] as a member of the Sens growing up, I wasn’t a huge fan of him ... when he was mocking Mats there I wasn’t a huge fan of that. But [the organization knows] what they’re doing and he’s such a respected [person] around the league as a player and I know guys that know him personally and it’s just a great addition so I’m looking forward to getting to know all these coaches.”
Lorentz finished this past season - his second in Toronto - with seven goals and 18 points. An entrenched depth player, Lorentz spoke about the mindset he is using to work towards another season in Toronto.
“It’s always been about that [grinding] mentality for me,” Lorentz said. “I’ve been counted out my whole career and it’s something that just gives me some fuel.
“I think the best advice I got from Rod Brind’Amour (with the Carolina Hurricanes, the organization with which he spent parts of the 2015-22 seasons) was, in my second of third training camp - you’re never going to be a guy that comes in here and just has a spot given to him, you have to fight and claw for every single thing that you’re going to get in this league,” Lorentz said. “We’re all human... I look at my career stat lines and go ‘maybe 10 goals, 15 goals that’s not off the table,’ but I also reel myself in and realize I’m not here to score goals, we pay guys to do that.”
As a depth player for most of his career in the NHL - Lorentz has never scored more than 20 points in a single season - he is hoping to build a bond with some of the other new additions to the team, who have also been used in depth roles in their previous stops in the NHL.
“It seemed like a lot of the signings were depth signings, and guys that were going to play in that bottom six, so it’s always a pleasure,” Lorentz said.
“There’s a bit of a ... I don’t want to say a ‘brotherhood,’ but there’s an extra special bond for those guys that just go out and bang and they don’t always get the extra recognition some of the top guys do so you bond with guys like that just playing the game hard.”
