In many ways, the opening of training camp feels like the start of a new school year. There are some nerves and anxiety, but mostly excitement over what is a fresh start. There may be some new faces to get to know (and a new teacher), but it also marks a chance to catch up with friends/teammates. And inevitably, the same question is posed: how was your summer?
While so much of the focus in the early days of training camp is on what’s to come, it’s also fun to reminisce about what the past four months have brought. While many Toronto Maple Leafs players lived up to their status as young multi-millionaire athletes, some experienced major life developments, some celebrated their own successes from last season and others stuck around hockey arenas to create new career highlights.
Let’s check in and see what some of the Maple Leafs were up to this summer:
Adventures in Italy
There’s no doubt that Italy is a stunning and popular vacation destination, so perhaps it’s no surprise that some Toronto players made their way to “the boot”. But by the time Bobby McMann, Max Domi and Calle Jarnkrok had all shared scenic photos from the Southern Italian countryside, you could forgive fans for thinking, “All right, enough already!”
All three forwards shared incredible, jealousy-inducing views of their spectacular vacations. McMann and his girlfriend spent time enjoying some tiramisu in Positano, Domi celebrated his new, four-year contract with a trip to Rome alongside his girlfriend and even former London Knights teammate Bo Horvat and Jarnkrok made his way to the island of Faraglioni with his wife.
It remains to be seen whether the trio will pay for enjoying too much pasta and carbs in the early days of training camp.
The World Champion
It wasn’t exactly the same kind of relaxing off-season for David Kampf, but it was undoubtedly a rewarding one. The 29-year-old didn’t have any time to wallow in the Maple Leafs’ first round defeat, as he was immediately Czechia-bound to represent his home nation at the IIHF World Championship. And represent he did.
Kampf recorded two goals and five points in nine games while amassing a team-best plus-9, helping Czechia win gold on home soil. He also engineered an iconic moment for the country, sealing the World Championship triumph with an empty netter in the waning seconds of the gold medal game against Switzerland to send a sold-out Prague Arena into a frenzy. He later penned an Instagram post showing his celebrations with a number of teammates, including former Leafs Ondrej Kase and Petr Mrazek.
Newest Members of Leafs Nation?
Morgan Rielly experienced his own excitement this summer, becoming a father for the first time. Back in August, he and his wife, Olympic figure skating champion Tessa Virtue, announced the birth of their first child, McCormick Rielly. And yes, the jokes about the baby’s superior skating ability were flowing freely.
But while the Canadian sports power couple stole most of the headlines in the aftermath of their son’s birth, Rielly isn’t even the only Leafs defenceman to become a new dad in the offseason. Simon Benoit was a notable absence from the first day of training camp, as he and his long-time girlfriend welcomed their first child.
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Summers With Stanley
With the offseason additions of two members of the defending champion Florida Panthers (free agent signee Oliver Ekman-Larsson and PTO invitee Steven Lorentz), the Maple Leafs locker room now has two occupants who are fresh off getting a day with the Stanley Cup. And neither Ekman-Larsson nor Lorentz let that opportunity go to waste.
On Aug. 1, Ekman-Larsson brought the Cup back to his hometown of Tingsryd, Sweden, showing off the trophy at a local hockey rink. With the Cup in tow, the 33-year-old blueliner also paid an emotional visit to the grave of his late mother, Annika, who died of breast and lung cancer in 2017.
Lorentz, meanwhile, brought the Cup to his Kitchener-Waterloo hometown. In addition to celebrating with family and friends and sharing the moment with the entire community at a public event in RIM Park, the 28-year-old visited Kitchener’s Grand River Regional Cancer Centre, offering a thrill to patients, staff and other visitors.
Now with training camp underway, the summer is most certainly in the rear-view mirror. Still, it’s nice to look back on the highlights of the past four months. But let’s be honest, every Maple Leaf would gladly trade a few weeks of their time off for a longer playoff run this spring. Because, for as incredible as the highs of exotic international travels, World Championship pursuits and growing families are, there is nothing the team would love more than to follow Ekman-Larsson and Lorentz’s offseason game plan.
