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His father, Mark, asked the big question. “You’re 28 years old. You’ve climbed the mountain. You’ve done it all. What’s left? What’s going to motivate and inspire you?”

Lorentz smirked. “Imagine I won the Cup with the Leafs,” he said calmly.

Mark sat with that for a moment. Only one word escaped his breath as he thought of the possibility: “Wow.”

Lorentz grew up a massive Maple Leafs fan. His bedroom in Waterloo was decorated in Leafs paraphernalia, including several posters across his walls. One side featured a painting by his mother, Karon, of the ice surface of what was then known as Air Canada Centre. His bedroom light was the Leafs’ score clock. He’d wear Leafs jerseys by day and Leafs pyjamas by night.

His passion derived from his father. Although Mark grew up in a Boston Bruins household, he grew attached to the blue and white and passed it on to his four children.

“It was just ingrained in me from my Dad from such an early age,” Lorentz tells the Star. “He was always a big fan.”

When Lorentz entered the off-season as a Stanley Cup champ and an unrestricted free agent, there was initial interest from several teams until things grew increasingly quiet. But the Leafs��were one organization that seemed like a realistic option.

Lorentz eventually signed a professional tryout contract with pc28����on Sept. 5. After a successful training camp, he earned a one-year contract worth $775,000 (U.S.).

While his play on the ice has stood out to Leafs management and coaching staff, his radiating happy-go-lucky energy, strong work ethic and love for the Leafs have quickly endeared him to fans.

“Seeing people��root for me in a Leafs sweater is an extraordinary feeling that I take a lot of pride in,” Lorentz says. “It makes it easy to get up for games when you have a lot of people in your corner pulling for you.”

The odds have been stacked against Lorentz throughout his hockey career. He didn’t hit a growth spurt until his late teens, and while he’s now six-foot-four and 216 pounds, he went into his first OHL training camp at five-foot-nine and 137 pounds and was a��12th-round draft pick.

He was picked in the seventh round of 2015 NHL draft by the Carolina Hurricanes and spent five seasons in the minors before finally earning a spot in the lineup during the 2020-21 season. He’s stayed in the NHL since.

“Growing up, the three things Steven had heard the most were, ‘You shouldn’t. You can’t. You won’t,’ ” Mark says. “And, as long as I’ve been around, he’s always been able to come back and said, ‘I can. I will. And I did.’ ”

Lorentz has been a rugged fourth-liner for the majority of his NHL career. His role isn’t to score many goals but to keep things simple and play with an edge, and he’s well aware of that.

Last season in Florida, he scored three points in 38 games, averaging only eight minutes and 47 seconds of ice time. In the playoffs, he played in 16 of 24 games as the Panthers won the Cup.

In the first period of the Leafs’ second game of the season against the Devils, Lorentz nearly matched his entire regular season offensive output with Florida. Minutes after assisting on a goal by Bobby McMann, he backhanded a loose puck into the top of the net before skating into the corner with his arms in the air.

“It’s crazy,” Lorentz says. “Any goal in the league is special, but to be wearing this jersey it’s surreal. It was almost another little blackout moment there.”

After the Leafs won 4-2, Lorentz took photos with his goal puck and looked at his phone. His father had sent him a few texts filled with expletives. Hours later, his sister, Stephanie, posted a photo from his Grade 8 yearbook to X.

The graduating class was asked where they’d be in 15 years. Lorentz answered: “Playing in the NHL (with the Leafs).”

The post quickly went viral.

“I don’t think she realized at the time just how much attention it was going to get,” Lorentz says. “Being here is something I’ve worked for my whole life, so it’s definitely special. Looking back at that kid, if he only knew what position he’d be in.”

A few nights later, the player introductions at��the��Leafs’ home opener��felt grand for Lorentz and his family. His fiancée and mother sat in the stands, while his father sat in the company box for Bell, where he works.

He had made his NHL debut in January 2021 in an empty arena but his parents couldn’t travel to watch him in person because of COVID-19 restrictions.

Already a fan favourite following his night in New Jersey earlier in the week, the pc28����crowd let out a resounding roar when he was introduced at Scotiabank Arena.

“That was, vicariously, his first lap for me,” Mark says.��“As they call his name and he skates out, of course, I’m standing with a grin on my face and tears in my eyes. Why wouldn’t you?”

Each memory from the Lorentz home — which is filled with Leafs merchandise��— dawned on their family as he stood at the blue line; the trips to and from the rink, the TV blaring Don Cherry’s “Rock’Em Sock’Em” video tapes, the piles of magazines and hockey cards he owned.

Lorentz has averaged about three more minutes a game with the Leafs already than he did with Florida last season. Star contributing columnist Nick Kypreos reported that the team has been so impressed with his start in the blue-and-white, they would like to extend his contract at some point in the new year.

In the meantime, Lorentz hopes his connection with the Leafs and their fans will only grow as the season goes on.

“There are a lot of Leafs supporters out there everywhere you go. They live and bleed for the team,” he says. “If I can bring the same passion as they do, then I think we’re going to be good.”