Former Toronto Maple Leafs forward James van Riemsdyk continues to look back on his time donning the Blue and White fondly.
After being acquired during the 2012 Draft in exchange for Luke Schenn, JVR spent six seasons in Toronto which ended up being the most productive of his NHL career. He posted two 30-goal seasons, surpassed the 60-point mark twice, only missed 45 games (40 of which came during the 2015-16 season), and helped guide the team to three playoff appearances. JVR even made an appearance at the 2014 Olympics alongside his longtime linemate Phil Kessel.
During an appearance on Morning Cuppa Hockey with Jonny Lazarus and Colby Cohen on December 26th, van Riemsdyk was asked about his tenure with the Leafs and what led to his success. The now-Columbus Blue Jackets forward attributed his success in Toronto to the strong chemistry he built up with his teammates over the years.
”As far as my bread and butter for my skill sets and things like that, I think that was obviously such a great fit playing in Toronto. And it was kind of through a couple of different evolutions of the team too. Obviously my first few years, me and Bozy were kind of attached to the hip for all six of those years, which was great. I think our styles complimented each other so great. Just how we thought the game, the different sort of things that we both were good at just meshed together so well. And then having someone like Phil Kessel on the right wing for the first three years of that was amazing. He doesn’t forget to tell me that ‘Don’t forget who made you a player in this league, James’ when he feels like he needs to tell me that. But he was great.
Then the last few years of that, it was kind of 50/50 between Connor Brown and Mitch Marner at five on five and then playing a lot with Mitch Marner on the power play. But I think just stylistically between having those guys on my line, the hockey felt almost easy in a way where you just kind of were in that state of just playing where you didn’t feel like you had to think too much or overthink it. I was really able to play to my instincts there. Just the way we all kind of thought the game and played together and had that kind of chemistry that made it a lot easier. So definitely looking back, Toronto was definitely where that all kind of came together nicely for me.”