Called back up with the Maple Leafs but outside of the team's top-12 forward group, do the club and the team decide to part ways when the player becomes a restricted free agent? Bobby McMann is set to remain within the Toronto Maple Leafs organization for the next two years. The Maple Leafs signed McMann to a two-year, $2.7 million extension on Wednesday afternoon, which carries an annual average value of $1.35 million, beginning next season. The 27-year-old forward has 10 goals and eight assists for 18 points in 40 games this season with Toronto. McMann is tied for seventh on the Maple Leafs for goals this season alongside Calle Jarnrkok. He's bounced throughout Toronto's lineup this season, playing on the fourth line before getting an extended run with John Tavares on the Maple Leafs' third line. McMann scored the first hat trick of his NHL career on Feb. 13 against the St. Louis Blues and hasn't looked back since. He has eight goals and three assists for 11 points in his last 14 games averaging over 13 minutes of ice time per game. McMann had never played more than 13 minutes in an NHL game before his hat trick game against the Blues, which he wasn't supposed to play in, but came in because of an illness going through the team. "He's gone from basically a healthy scratch earlier this week to interested to the lineup when guys get sick and now he's got five goals this week," Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said following McMann's three-point night against the Anaheim Ducks on Feb. 17. "It's pretty remarkable, but he's played really well too. Like, he's done a number of good things where he looks super confident with the puck, skating, moving his feet, challenging defenders. He's been really good on the walls in his own zone. "It's been a great development for us. What I see there is a guy that — given he was going to be a healthy scratch earlier this week — if you put yourself in his shoes, I'm sure he's like, 'It's not good. I've had my chance and I'm starting to slip and others are starting to come in.' Once he got his chance, he's showing that he's not going to let this one slip." [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWkw5WbPBNM[/embed] McMann's body of work speaks to the hard worker that he is. He joined the Marlies on an AHL contract on April 2, 2020, scoring just two goals and two assists in 21 games during the 2021 COVID season. The next year, he began the season on the ECHL's Newfoundland Growlers before snapping up an opportunity in the Marlies lineup and breaking the organization's rookie goal record with 24 goals in 61 games. Following that season, McMann signed a two-year, two-way deal with the Maple Leafs on Apr. 29, 2022. He scored 21 goals in 30 AHL games during the 2022-23 season and played and made his NHL debut on Jan. 11, 2023. McMann was placed on, and cleared, waivers at the beginning of this season. He appeared in six games with the Marlies, scoring two goals and one assist, before coming back up to the Maple Leafs. The 6-foot-2, 210-pound forward's $1.35 million cap hit will only be 1.62% of the Maple Leafs' salary cap next season. Image [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjAwNTk1MTUxMDE2NDM2ODQ0/cf1808c0-6a82-4298-9049-3eb2eae105b0.jpg] Related 'Read Into That What You Will': Mitch Marner Skates For First Time Since Suffering Lower-Body Injury Against Bruins [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/toronto-maple-leafs/latest-news/read-into-that-what-you-will-mitch-marner-skates-for-first-time-since-suffering-lower-body-injury-against-bruins] 'His Calling Card Is Defending': Maple Leafs' Newest Defense Acquisition Cade Webber Continues to Hit Milestones with Boston University [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/toronto-maple-leafs/latest-news/his-calling-card-is-defending-maple-leafs-newest-defense-acquisition-cade-webber-continues-to-hit-milestones-with-boston-university] 'I Understand It But I'm Not Going To Sit Here And Say That I'm Happy': Maple Leafs' Roster Shuffle Tests Nick Robertson's Patience Upon His Return to the Team [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/toronto-maple-leafs/latest-news/i-understand-it-but-im-not-going-to-sit-here-and-say-that-im-happy-maple-leafs-roster-shuffle-tests-nick-robertsons-patience-upon-his-return-to-the-team] News from THN.com NHL Three Stars: The GM Trio That Shined Brightest at the Deadline [https://thehockeynews.com/news/nhl-three-stars-the-gm-trio-that-shined-brightest-at-the-deadline] Which NHL Teams Are the Ultimate Stanley Cup Contenders After the Trade Deadline? [https://thehockeynews.com/news/which-nhl-teams-are-the-ultimate-stanley-cup-contenders-after-the-trade-deadline] Opinion: Why Golden Knights Got Noah Hanifin for Pennies on the Dollar from Flames [https://thehockeynews.com/news/opinion-why-golden-knights-got-noah-hanifin-for-pennies-on-the-dollar-from-flames]
