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Jake Muzzin spent much of his first half-season in Toronto playing catch-up.

Now, he’s further ahead than many Maple Leafs in re-acclimatizing for what he hopes is a long run for the club through the spring of 2020.

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The blueliner and his trademark beard were among the first arrivals for informal summer skates this week at a west end rink. After eight years with the Los Angeles Kings and much different late-summer scenery, Muzzin, his wife and baby daughter moved north a couple of weeks ago and he hit the ice with a group of mostly young Leafs and Marlies.

“You’d like to start … from the start, with the team,” Muzzin said Monday. “It’s tough getting thrown into something, but that was part of the game. It’s definitely nice to be here now, settled in and to go through camp with the rest of the guys. That will be a little better for me.”

The left-shooting Muzzin played mostly with the now-departed Nikita Zaitsev following the late-January deal with the Kings. Projections for training camp in three weeks put him in another left-right dynamic with newcomer Cody Ceci. A regular partner and a greater grasp of the Leafs system should help in what is Muzzin’s last season under his contract at $4 million US before unrestricted free agency.