Bobby McMann highlights Maple Leafs who journeyed from ECHL to NHL

Bobby McMann continues to be a great success story for the Maple Leafs. He has solidified a role with the team, and even earned time on the top six. He currently has 12 goals (17 points) in 35 games played this season. 

What makes McMann an outlier is his path to earn his NHL contract. He wasn’t a highly sought-after prospect. He spent four years at Colgate University, culminating in a senior year in which he captained the Raiders and was nominated for the Hobey Baker Award. Despite this, he remained undrafted after his collegiate career ended. 

If McMann wanted to make it to the NHL, he would have to do it the hard way. That hard way started by playing for the Wichita Thunder of the ECHL (ECHL). 

What is the ECHL?

For those unfamiliar, the ECHL is a minor hockey league based in New Jersey. The league promotes itself as the “Premier AA Hockey League.” In the professional hierarchy, the ECHL is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL), but also serves as a farm system to the AHL and NHL with 28 of 32 NHL franchises holding affiliate agreements with an ECHL club. 

Alongside the AHL, the ECHL is the only other minor league recognized by the NHL’s collective bargaining agreement, and any player signed to an entry-level contract can be assigned to a club’s AHL or ECHL affiliate. However, an ECHL assignment for most means making it to the NHL is a long shot. Only about a third will play in the AHL, and an even smaller percentage of AHL players will make it to the NHL. Needless to say, the ECHL is far from a predictor of future stardom. 

I love a success story like McMann’s. It takes grit, perseverance, and mental fortitude to defy the odds and make it to NHL. While McMann is the most notable current Maple Leafs player who has spent time in the ECHL, he isn’t alone. Some other current Leafs who have skated on ECHL ice include:

Steven Lorentz

Drafted by Carolina in 2015, Lorentz spent his next two years in the OHL before spending the 2017-18 season as a member of the ECHL’s Florida Everblades. He spent the next two seasons bouncing between the Everblades and the Charlotte Checkers of the AHL before making his NHL debut for Carolina in 2021. After spending last season as part of Florida’s Stanley Cup championship squad (the Panthers, not the Everblades), Lorentz was awarded a contract with the Leafs following a professional tryout (PTO). 

Jani Hakanpaa

The player with the longest time between being drafted and debuting in the NHL is Hakanpaa. A fourth-round pick by the St. Louis Blues back in 2010, Hakanpaa would spend almost a full decade playing in various leagues before debuting for the Anaheim Ducks in 2020. He split his time in the 2010s between North America and his native Finland, including a brief stop in Moline, Illinois, for the now-defunct Quad City Mallards in 2015. 

Ryan Reaves

The journeyman winger has played more than 900 games with six different teams in his NHL career, but Reaves‘ arrival to the show was not instant. Another draft pick by St. Louis in 2005, it took Reaves five full seasons before getting a shot at the NHL. Along the way, Reaves had brief stops for two different ECHL clubs that could not be farther apart geographically: the Alaska Aces and the Orlando Solar Bears.

Other ECHL notes

A handful of former Leafs also spent time in the ECHL. Some notable examples include Timothy Liljegren, Justin Holl, and James Reimer. Even The Leafs Nation’s own Jay Rosehil, co-host of Leafs Morning Take had brief ECHL stints for the Johnstown Chiefs and Mississippi Sea Wolves. 

The Maple Leafs’ previous ECHL affiliate was the Newfoundland Growlers, but the club folded last year. The Leafs then signed an affiliate agreement with the ECHL’s Cincinnati Cyclones. Of the current Cyclones under contract with MLSE, I would say Ty Voit has the most potential to crack an NHL roster. The 21-year-old Pittsburgh native is currently signed to an entry-level contract with the Leafs, and LeafsNation’s Nick Richard ranked him 18th in his most recent prospect rankings. 

For any Leaf’s fans who want to make the journey to southern Ohio, it’s only an eight-hour drive from Toronto to Cincy. Coming from an Ohioan Leafs supporter, I assure you it’s a good time.