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Henry Thrun admits he had an extra gear facing his former team following loss to Sharks
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Photo credit: David Kirouac-Imagn Images
Michael Mazzei
Dec 12, 2025, 07:00 ESTUpdated: Dec 11, 2025, 22:49 EST
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Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Henry Thrun finally got his chance to prove himself again in the NHL when he made his season debut on Thursday against the San Jose Sharks.
Getting a chance to play after Dakota Mermis got injured earlier in the week, his first appearance of the season just so happened to be against his former team months after being dealt to Toronto for Ryan Reaves. Thrun ended up registering 16:07 of icetime while recording two shots and laying a hit, though his usage did ramp up in the third period after Oliver Ekman-Larsson got injured.
After spending much of the season with the AHL’s Toronto Marlies, Thrun admitted that getting back up to speed on how much quicker the play moves in the NHL was a bit of an adjustment
“ I thought it was fine. The game moves so much faster at this pace,” he said to reporters after the game when asked about his comfort level. “It took me a minute or two defensively, and other than that, it was fine.  Couple plays in the second that I wanted back, but overall I thought that was fine.”
While it’s unclear at the time of writing how severe Ekman-Larsson’s injury will be, there is nonetheless a big opportunity ahead for Thrun as he will likely get an extended look for the foreseeable future. While it was clear in the early going how much rust he needed to shakeoff, things did settle down as the game went along, and he was given more reps towards the end of the night. It helped that he had plenty of motivation going into the game, facing off against his former team for the first time.
“ Never done that before. That was obviously a unique thing,” he said. “ Just fired up. You want to compete against anyone, but especially against those guys, a lot of familiar faces. Just trying to help the team win. It was obviously not the result we wanted, but personally, it was a little bit extra gear playing those guys.”
Captain Auston Matthews said that Thrun impressed him in his Leafs debut.
“ He was good. I don’t think he looks outta place when he is out there,” Matthews said of Thrun. “ He’s got great poise with a puck,  he can play either side, he’s got good skill. He didn’t look out of place at all. I thought he made good plays, and definitely a guy that can move with the puck back there.”
Thrun has already endeared himself to the Leafs after he was named as one of the standouts of training camp by Jake McCabe, and it was merely a numbers game as to why he was ultimately sent down at the start of the year. But now that injuries are plaguing the back end, there will be plenty of runway for the 24-year-old to establish himself and make it difficult on the coaching staff once the regulars return down the line.

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