TORONTO – For players like Minnesota Wild forwards Hunter Haight and Ben Jones, who are still working toward every-night spots in the NHL lineup, each game they get to play in “the show” is a gift worth savoring.
But when the rash of injuries that had the Wild playing without five veterans again on Monday lines up with the team’s lone visit to Toronto this season, for players like Haight and Jones who grew up near Canada’s largest metro area, it’s a special treat.
“I definitely felt like I bled blue for a while,” said Jones of his childhood as a Maple Leafs fan, growing up roughly an hour outside the heart of Toronto. “I went out for lunch with my family yesterday and everyone said that if I got a chance to play here and they saw me on the ice, there would be a lot of tears flowing. It’s exciting for them and kind of a full-circle moment for sure.”
Jones, who was skating in his 25th game of the season on Monday, played youth hockey in Toronto on a team with Quinn Hughes when they were kids. Haight, who was slotted in for his fourth NHL game on Monday, was born a little more than 20 miles west of the city and witnessed his first NHL game at the rink where he was working for the Wild.
“It’s something you dream of growing up,” Haight said after the Wild’s morning skate on the Maple Leafs’ home ice. “Always watching through their playoff runs and all that. I haven’t been in this building since I was like seven years old.”
For Wild coach John Hynes, having seen many players return to their hometowns or their former employers over his coaching career, there’s a balance by the emotional boost from playing in front of friends and family, and the need to focus on the hockey, blocking out any potential distractions.
“I think it’s always exciting for guys to be able to come back and play in their hometowns,” Hynes said. “Sometimes it’s no different than if they’re coming back to play for a team they used to play for. Usually it gives them a little bit of extra pop and excitement.”
For both players, there was a little more pop in their wallets as well. The Maple Leafs have some of the most expensive tickets in the NHL, and Haight was on the hook for “a bunch” of them with more than 30 friends and family coming to Monday’s game. Jones said his father took him to his first NHL game in Toronto as a kid, and on Monday night, Ben got to return the favor.
Briefly
Former Gophers star forward Matthew Knies has been a hit in Toronto since he signed with the Maple Leafs just hours after the U of M’s loss in the 2023 NCAA title game. But a nagging lower body injury kept him off the ice for Monday’s morning skate and Toronto coach Craig Berube was unsure of Knies’ availability to face the Wild.
“It’s obviously bothering him a lot for quite some time and hasn’t gotten really much better,” Berube said. “Other than when he gets some breaks, Christmas time and stuff, he comes back, it feels better, but it’s an ongoing issue.”
Knies, 23, has a dozen goals and 28 assists in 45 games for Toronto this season. Originally from Arizona, he spent two seasons with the Gophers, helping them reach the NCAA Frozen Four in back-to-back years and winning the Big Ten’s MVP award in 2023.
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