Vesey signed with Toronto in Oct. 2020 and was waived by the club on Mar. 16, 2021.
Vesey signed with Toronto in Oct. 2020 and was waived by the club on Mar. 16, 2021.
It's safe to say Jimmy Vesey had a tough time with the Maple Leafs back in 2021.
The 30-year-old is two-and-a-half years removed from a stint with Toronto during the COVID-19 pandemic, where he had five goals and two assists through 30 games.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2t164DwCrs[/embed]
That season was difficult because of the bubble, which kept Canadian teams in Canada and American teams in the United States. But what made the stint even worse for Vesey was that the team had Amazon shooting the 'All or Nothing' docuseries that year, which made a lot of things public.
Vesey—now with the New York Rangers, has put up seven goals and three assists in 27 games. And in his return to Toronto, the 30-year-old opened up to The New York Post's Mollie Walker about why it didn't work out with the Maple Leafs.
Following the 2021 season, after splitting 50 games between Toronto and the Vancouver Canucks, Vesey was offered a professional tryout contract by the New Jersey Devils.
"My mindset was it can’t get much worse than this," Vesey told The New York Post.
"So I might as well go into camp and f—k everything else, just go out and play … What I learned is that it happens, you just pick yourself up and keep going."
The 'All or Nothing' docuseries was great for fans because they got to watch the everyday happenings within an NHL team. However, it was not always the best situation for players, given a few things went more public than some had hoped.
Early in episode two of the 'All or Nothing' series, Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe pulled Vesey aside during a practice and asked the forward how he felt about what he was bringing to the team.
"We brought you here with a good opportunity and wanting you to make a difference. I just want you to be sure that you know it's been very vanilla," Keefe explained to Vesey.
Vesey then responded to Keefe saying, "what I feel like you're telling me is that, you don't know what my game is or you don't like it, and I'm going to be out soon."
Later in the episode, Vesey walked into then-Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas' office to be informed that he had been going on waivers. 24 hours later, he was headed to the Canucks.
Nearly one year ago, Vesey and the Rangers hosted Toronto at Madison Square Garden. Vesey scored two goals in a 3-1 win that night.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sczS21LDcL0[/embed]
And when Keefe was asked about the ex-player coming up big after the game, he responded: "Are we done?"
Whether the two got along or not in Toronto remains unknown. But for Vesey, it's clear that playing for the Maple Leafs was difficult with all of the circumstances at hand.
"I haven’t watched it, but I don’t think I should have been featured as prominently as I was, from what I’ve heard," Vesey told The New York Post of the 'All or Nothing' docuseries.
"In a documentary about a team that lost in the first round of the playoffs and I wasn’t there for it. I think they had final say on what went in it and sometimes you have to point the arrow somewhere else other than at yourself."
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