Maple Leafs hope former Panthers fuel Stanley Cup ambition

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Under a conveniently located maple tree, its leaves just starting to show autumn colours, incoming Toronto players spoke of making a difference in a title-starved market.

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It’s the same shady spot at Rattlesnake Point golf club in Milton where all newbies are introduced to the media each September at the alumni tournament. Let’s just say they were spared any questions about breaking into a lineup that played deep into last June.

But there was a difference on Monday in pedigree. Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Anthony Stolarz and Steve Lorentz (who is on a PTO and not on the links with the other two) were all on the 2024 champion Florida Panthers.

While the Leafs haven’t raised the Stanley Cup in 57 years, hearing many tales of how a player’s day is spent with the prized trophy is a stark change and maybe something that can rub off on the rest of the dressing room.

“A couple of guys mentioned (him winning the Cup), mainly the staff,” said goaltender Anthony Stolarz, who had a big regular-season role in keeping Sergei Bobrovsky fresh for playoffs. “I keep telling them ‘let’s do it again, run it back this year.’”

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Stolarz, a native of Edison, N.J., brought the Cup to his home golf course then to his home for some “alone time” with just family and friends. He capped the evening at one of his favourite restaurants, inviting some of the coaches from early in his career, with a night cap at a bar.

“To raise it, have our names engraved on it, seeing yours, I just had that reality set in,” Stolarz said.

The 30-year-old wasted little time after the Panthers’ raucous Cup parade, signing with the Leafs and getting back to training by July 10 as he hopes to both compete with and push new teammate Joseph Woll.

Ekman-Larsson also had a short summer. The defenceman who had played just nine total NHL playoff games the previous decade had six points in 24 starts through the Cats’ title run. His trophy day was in his hometown of Karlskrona, Sweden, where he filled a community hall with fans and then also had a special night with family.

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“A pretty good party,” he said with a laugh. “It was a good day to see how happy everybody is for you and thank everybody who helped you get to that point. At the same time, it was good way to end that year and focus on what’s next.”

Ekman-Larson’s partner on the Leafs is yet to be established. It’s thought new coach Craig Berube will put Chris Tanev with incumbent Morgan Rielly and, if he leaves Jake McCabe and Simon Benoit together, the left-shooting OEL can play with the right-shot Timothy Liljegren, Connor Timmins or, when he’s green-lighted from rehabbing a knee injury, Jani Hakanpaa.

OEL said the presence of so many former Panthers already is helping him acclimate, though Lorentz knows it will be hard to win a bottom-six job at centre or especially left wing with Max Pacioretty and Nick Robertson signed since he took his PTO a couple of weeks earlier. The Kitchener-born Lorentz is the most blue-blooded of the three, thanks to his father’s influence.

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“Being a Leaf is something I’ve always wanted since I was a little kid,” Lorentz told TSN radio Monday morning. “For an opportunity like this to come up, I just thought this is a group I could come into and use what I learned last year in winning in Florida, to hopefully bring that knowledge and that experience. And I think it could be a good fit.

“Being able to hoist the Cup here in Toronto would be something that would just be incredible for everybody.”

But if Cups were won on the basis of signing or trading for those on its recent honour roll, the Leafs should be a dynasty. Dave Bolland, Zach Bogosian, Kyle Clifford and Ryan O’Reilly are just some of the former champions plugged in to create a winning formula, while Jake Muzzin had a career-ending injury. The Leafs have a single playoff series victory in 20 years with scores of close calls that they and fans lament.

“There’s a lot that goes into (a Cup),” Lorentz opined. “You can’t really put your finger on one thing. A lot of luck comes into it as well. Obviously, the harder you work, the luckier you get.

“But there is going to be a lot of games that you necessarily deserve to win or something’s not going to go your way. It’s about being resilient.’

Team medicals are Wednesday and the Leafs begin daily workouts Thursday, leading the first exhibition game Sunday against Ottawa.

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