HAPPY 40^TH BIRTHDAY, JAY ROSEHILL!

It’s time to find out when Pontus Holmberg will be making his highly anticipated return to Scotiabank Arena.

Yeah, that’s the big regular season game everyone’s waiting for, right?

Jokes aside, for obvious reasons, Vegas’ visit to Toronto in 2025/26 won’t be a difficult one to build up. Naturally, that’s where the conversation started on the latest summer edition of Leafs Morning Take as we talked about what we think the atmosphere will be like for Mitch Marner’s return. Suffice it is to say, he’s not very well liked in this market right now. It’s a long season, so it’s fun to have games to look forward to —that’s for sure.

Then, thanks to Simply Spiked, long-time NHL broadcaster, head coach, and executive Pierre McGuire dropped by for a chat. We talked scheduling Marner’s return appropriately, what he expects the atmosphere to look like for that game, and where he thinks the Leafs are at right now. Additionally, he gave his thoughts on the Kadri rumours that just won’t go away and what the Leafs need to put themselves over the spot. Lastly, McGuire dished on Easton Cowan and how he would handle the 20-year-old forward moving forward.

After that, brought to you by GRETA BAR YYZ, we continued the Kadri discussion. For some reason, as mentioned, that rumour just won’t go away. On paper, he would really fill a need/void for the Maple Leafs. That said, it doesn’t sound like Calgary’s open to dealing him right now. Furthermore, we dissected some prospect stuff (Holinka/Voit) before finishing up with some Thrun talk. For what it’s worth, circling back to the McGuire interview, he went out of his way to praise the Thrun pick up for Toronto. Ultimately, we’ll see how it all works out.

Anyways, we’ll be back on Thursday for the latest summer edition of Leafs Morning Take. Join us at 11 AM ET for a complete dissection and breakdown of the 2025-26 NHL schedule. That should be fun.

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