Scrivens recalls his time in Toronto

Ben Scrivens will return to Toronto next week as a member of the Los Angeles Kings, though there is no certainty that he will draw the start against his former club.

The Kings open the trip with a pair of back-to-back games at Montreal and Toronto, and given Martin Jones’ play in his debut NHL performance, and Darryl Sutter’s acknowledgement that undesirable aspects were “slipping in a little bit” to Scrivens’ game, there’s certainly a possibility that Jones will draw one of the starts on four-game trip. Los Angeles will also play in Ottawa next Saturday and in Chicago next Sunday.

Though not certain, it’s still likely that Scrivens will get the start against the Maple Leafs, and on Friday he spoke about what comes with the territory of playing for such a widely followed team. I’ll also relay Matt Frattin’s recollection of his time in Toronto prior to next Wednesday’s game.

On whether he watches the Maple Leafs on television:
I mean, I’ll watch hockey games. If they’re on, I’ll watch them. I don’t make a point of watching Leafs games.

On any “fond memories” of his time in Toronto:
In my opinion, a city’s a city. I’m not a big architecture guy or anything like that. What makes a place special to me are the people. Obviously, we had a lot of good friends there and forged a lot of lasting relationships. That’s the biggest thing, the people that we met and the friends that we have there now. We still keep in touch with them but it’s going to be good to get back and see them again.

On facing the Toronto media:
I spent three years there. I think I can handle the media there. [Reporter: What was that like?] The media? It’s like this, but about eight more deep. I feel like if you’re yourself, if you just treat it the same way you’d treat a scrum of three, answer the questions honestly, don’t say anything stupid – too stupid – treat people with respect and usually they’re pretty nice to you.

On the environment of being a professional hockey player in Toronto:
It definitely has its perks, but it also has some drawbacks too. That being said, when you’re playing in Toronto, you’re the Lakers, you’re the Yankees in New York. It’s a lot of fun because people genuinely care about what you’re doing. Any drawbacks that there are, are because people care too much, if that’s possible. You can’t hold it against people that they care about what you’re doing. It was a lot fun there as I got later in my career there and started to play with the Leafs a little more. Obviously I got a little more recognition in day to day life. People see you out in restaurants and stuff. I never had any bad experiences. Canadians are all nice. It was a lot of fun to be involved with hockey in Toronto.

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