With their pre-season games complete, the Leafs will be heading to Arizona for a few days of bonding, which will include Auston Matthews hosting the players at his Scottsdale home.
For years, the Maple Leafs have treated a long pause of training camp the same way a lot of Ontarians treat Labour Day weekend. Pack the bags. Point the bus north. Spend a couple of days in Muskoka, take a few swings, eat a few dinners, and call it bonding.
This year, they are pointing the plane southwest.
Before Toronto split into two groups Wednesday for a pair of preseason games against the Ottawa Senators, general manager John Chayka explained why the club is trading Gravenhurst and Bracebridge for desert heat, golf, and Auston Matthews' backyard.
"Just a new year, fresh start, wanted to do something different," Chayka said. "And (MLSE CEO) Keith Pelley actually brought it up to say, ‘you know, it feels like Muskoka's great, everyone loves it, but it's getting a little stale.’"
Chayka handed the task of finding the logistics of a new place to Brad Lynn, the club's head of travel. Lynn, whom Chayka called "the best in the league at what he does," came back with four or five destinations. Wisconsin was a serious one. Jake McCabe pushed for it, and Chayka left the door open that it could still happen. There is also interest in going east. Arizona won the room because it was different and it was personal.
"Obviously, look, it's meaningful to Auston, hometown," Chayka said. "This is all about getting to know each other better and spending meaningful time together. So for him, it's an opportunity to show guys where he grew up and what he means to the community there. And obviously nice weather, a chance for guys to go and be themselves and spend some time together. That's pretty much it."
Matthews' reaction, according to the GM, was uncomplicated. He loved it. Matthews grew up in the Scottsdale area and has always kept a place there. Matthew Knies is from Phoenix, too. Family and friends of both players are expected to be around.
The itinerary is not complicated, and Chayka did not try to dress it up.
"It's your classic golf and some dinners," he said. "And Auston's going to have the players over at his place one night. I'm going to have the staff over at my house. I've got a place in Arizona as well. So, again, just getting to know people in our own homes is always nice."
The Leafs will depart following practice on Thursday and return following their practice on Saturday in Tempe, Arizona. The Maple Leafs open the regular season on Wednesday at home against the Montreal Canadiens.
"We've had the main group together almost since day one," Chayka said. "We'll have the main group there. And again, we've got a lot of new faces, new coaches, a lot of new staff. So just getting all the guys together as much as we can, I think, is important."
But it is still a lot of travel to squeeze in given the distance.
"We've got some time here," Chayka said. "It's less about time away and more about time with the people and trying to find the right spot at the right time. But with the way we travel now, we're pretty lucky too. So whether we're stuck in cottage traffic or on a plane, we didn't feel like it makes a big difference."
The split-squad games against Montreal and Ottawa allowed thre Leafs to have the days free.
"I didn't set it up. It was here when I got here," he said. "And then it just worked out that it made sense. And we felt like the timing worked and all the travel and the time we can get back before the first game, it just seemed to work out for us."
Sources tell The Hockey News that it was the Canadiens and Senators who pushed for the split squad schedule, to allow for easier accommodation for their neutral site exhibition game against each other in Trois-Rivières, QC as part of Kraft Hockeyville
There will be an open practics and a few community events in a market that still cares about hockey after the Coyotes moved to Utah. Chayka was less interested in turning the week into a barnstorming tour.
"It's more about getting the guys together, mainly."
Asked about the chances the Valley gets an NHL team back, Chayka stepped off the question.
"That's above my pay grade," he said. "I think it's got a great fan base, really passionate people, love hockey. Obviously, we've got to figure out an arena situation, and that's always been the biggest challenge there. So, again, that's something we tried to solve for a long period of time. Didn't get solved, but things evolved and changed, and certainly with that market you'd expect it could have success. But it's always about putting the right people at the right facilities at the right time together, and that's just tough to do."
He has never taken in a game at Mullett Arena, the temporary home that became the Coyotes' last stand.
The desert will not decide whether this roster is a playoff team again. What it might do is give a remade group a few unhurried days in the same place before the schedule takes over.
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