The sweater fits, so he’s wearing it.
Cochrane Minor Hockey product Mason Raymond is flourishing in his new surroundings at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre.
The former Vancouver Canucks forward, who wasn’t resigned by the team, was offered a professional tryout (PTO) at Toronto Maple Leafs training camp in September where the National Hockey League team quickly realized he belonged.
The 28-year-old inked a one-year, $1-million deal and has four goals and four assists in seven games with the club so far. As of Oct. 18, he was skating on Toronto’s second line with centre Dave Bolland and right-winger Joffrey Lupul.
“It’s pretty cool. There’s a lot of history here and a lot of tradition as one of the Original Six teams in the NHL,” Mason said in a telephone interview from Nashville prior to Toronto’s 4-0 win Oct. 10 over the Predators. “So it’s a huge honour to wear this jersey and I think a lot of people look at that and can say it’s pretty neat to play for the Maple Leafs.”
It goes both ways, as the Maple Leafs think it’s pretty neat their new acquisition fits under Toronto’s bloated salary cap and is scoring at a point-per-game pace.
He’s been a quick study.
“So far, things have gone well to be able to adjust to things and learning tons as far as systems and different sets of plays and how things go here under a different coaching staff,” Raymond related. “But the learning curve has been good. That’s part of being a pro is being able to adapt and adjust to situations.”
Part of that acclimation includes being cast-off by the team he played his first six NHL seasons with.
“Sometimes there’s change. And that’s part of this business, is going to another organization,” he observed.
“You know you’d love to play your career for one team but that’s not always the case. I’m more than happy to be in Toronto. I’m getting a good opportunity here to play with some good guys and be in a good organization that hopefully will do some really good things.”
If you want to catch Raymond doing some really good things live, he’ll be at Saddledome Oct. 30 when the Leafs visit the sizzling Flames, 6 p.m. puck drop.
