It is early in the afternoon at the Ford Performance Centre in Etobicoke, and Pontus Aberg is in a rush. A morning practice has ended and the Toronto Marlies’ leading scorer has a matinee date to see the recently-released Frozen 2.

An odd movie choice for a 26-year-old? Not when you consider his date: his three-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Molly, who is obsessed with all things Disney.

“She has every dress from the Disney store,” Aberg said. “She knows all the songs.”

And can Aberg chime in?

“I know a couple, yeah,” he said with a smile.

Afternoons spent watching Disney movies are not unusual for Pontus and Molly, who share a strong bond.

Aberg is a single father, one who is trying to balance raising his daughter with his goal of playing in the NHL.

Ask any two-parent household and they will tell you that raising a young child can be hectic at the best of times. Now, with Aberg having earned his first callup to the Leafs on Friday morning, he’ll continue to juggle a career that demands odd working hours, a heavy physical and emotional toll and frequent travel with raising his daughter.

But Aberg is ready for what’s ahead, as he has made sacrifices of his own. He is, after all, now playing for someone besides himself.

Dean Evason doesn’t have to search long for a word to describe Pontus Aberg.

“Misunderstood.”

Aberg’s dealings with the media can be dry and brief. The knock on him early in his career was that he lacked maturity and a strong work ethic.

Evason was Aberg’s first professional coach in North America, when a 21-year-old Aberg arrived in Milwaukee after being drafted in the second round, 37th overall, by the Nashville Predators in 2012.

Aberg confided in Evason as he bounced back and forth between the Predators and their AHL affiliate, Milwaukee Admirals. He was, and remains, a skilled and offensively-inclined winger who can drive play. His 34 points in 69 games in his first AHL season in 2014-15 were a solid start, but Aberg still had room to grow.

“No question – he had to mature,” said Evason.

Molly arrived the following season. She came as a surprise to Aberg and his then-girlfriend.

“It just kind of happened,” said Aberg. “I was 22, just living the life there.”

Every cliché about becoming a new parent, from shifting priorities and generally having your life tossed upside-down, rung true.

“I didn’t know what to expect when I became a dad,” said Aberg.

Aberg and his then-girlfriend tried to make it work together in Milwaukee. But after a year, they both agreed their relationship wasn’t working.

“We just decided (splitting up was) for the best,” said Aberg. “We didn’t get along.”

His relationship with Molly was a different, much happier, story. Her presence had minimized the off-ice distractions that had previously affected his play. So Aberg made his case: He wanted to keep her in his life.

Aberg didn’t want his daughter under the care of a “random” nanny, so he sought the help of his mother, Annethe. She agreed to quit her job as a massage therapist in Stockholm and move to the United States to help take care of Molly. Aberg’s ex-girlfriend, and Molly’s mother, currently lives and works in Spain.

The arrangement — which is agreed upon on a year-by-year basis — has presented its share of logistical challenges.

Aberg’s 2017-18 season started in Nashville. At the 2018 trade deadline, he was shipped to Edmonton, which meant his family would have to spend some time living in a hotel.

Ahead of the 2018-19 season, the Anaheim Ducks claimed him off waivers. It was another new team and another new city.

“Every time I think I’m going to settle somewhere,” Aberg said, “I get traded or put on waivers. It’s not ideal to have your family in hotel rooms for four or five months.”

He thought he had started well in Anaheim last season, scoring 19 points in 37 games. But in January, he was traded to the Minnesota Wild.

The trade came as a “shock.” He put up three points in his first five games, but he was hurt in February and things unraveled from there. His ice time and production fell. He had averaged 15:37 per game in Anaheim but only 12:52 with Minnesota.

“That’s the business,” said Aberg, shrugging his shoulders. “It’s the best league in the world. But you have to find a way.”

Despite his lack of success with the Wild, one person had noticed a difference in him: Evason, who was now an assistant coach with Minnesota. To Evason, Aberg was more poised and focused on the task at hand: staying in the NHL.

“Any time you get in a situation like that, you grow up in a hurry,” said Evason. “His hockey has benefited because of it. In a lot of ways, it can go sideways. But he’s embraced it, and it’s allowed him to have success.”

Aberg is willing to go a step further, saying he believes he would not be the player he is today without Molly in his life.

“I’ve matured more than I would have had I not had a daughter,” he said. “Even though I can be a little childish sometimes, I’ve improved with that. I always have to stay positive and she makes me happy.”

Evason was so impressed by Aberg’s new-found maturity that he sought out Aberg’s mother to tell her just how much he thought her son had changed.

“Any learning experiences and adversity you face, if you face them head-on you can use them as a positive,” said Evason. “He’s turned a situation that is obviously wonderful, but can be challenging for a hockey player… he’s used it as a positive for him and his family.”

Aberg was signed by the Leafs as a free agent this summer to a one-year deal. It’s the shortest contract of his career. This could be a make or break season for Aberg in the NHL.

His abilities immediately impressed Toronto’s coaching staff, but Aberg didn’t have a strong training camp and he was demoted to the Marlies.

Back in October, then Marlies head coach, and now Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe described Aberg’s game at the time this way:

“High-end skill.”

But…

“I can see at times he gets disengaged.”

Keefe added that the organization has a responsibility to create an environment that helps Aberg feel plugged in to what’s happening with the team.

“We need to make him feel important,” said Keefe back in October. “We need to make him feel like he’s cared about. That we’re here for him.”

When Aberg arrived in Toronto, the Leafs organization helped him quickly find an apartment so his family didn’t have to begin their stay in the city living out of another hotel.

Playing with the Marlies earlier this year still required long trips away from home. But regardless of what time of the day he returns, even if it’s in the middle of the night, Molly will run to greet her father.

“She brings joy,” said Aberg. “She’s always happy whether we win or lose.”

During Marlies home games, Molly Aberg could frequently be found running around the Coca-Cola Coliseum.

“She loves climbing the stairs,” said Aberg.

There are not many fathers on the Marlies. Those who got to know Aberg’s life as a single father before his promotion were in awe.

“My wife does so much. I can’t even imagine,” said goaltender Michael Hutchinson, who has an eight-month-old daughter.

“As a hockey player, the way you live is very selfish,” said Hutchinson. “On game days, it’s focused completely on yourself, your routine, and getting ready for the game. When you have a kid, it brings more self-awareness. You have someone else to look after.”

Typical practice days in Toronto mean Aberg leaves his home before Molly wakes up. From a young age, she began sleeping from 9 p.m. to 9 a.m.

“She’s like a teenager,” said Aberg, laughing.

With Molly not in regular daycare, her grandmother will take her to nearby child-care centres for drop-in programs, which allows Molly to meet children her own age. At home, the family speaks Swedish, so while Molly understands English, she can’t yet speak it.

She is also learning to love the water. Their condo building has a hot tub, which they’ll frequent together.

When Aberg returns home, the two will head to the park or play together. Long gone are the days of spontaneous dinners and nights out with teammates.

“You’ve got to prepare your life differently,” said Aberg. “You can’t just do stuff as it comes up. You have to plan your life a bit more. Dinner with teammates you have to cancel.”

In its place are dinners of French fries and chicken nuggets, always accompanied by a large glass of milk, or chocolate milk if a treat is in order. Of late, Molly has become a picky eater.

“She’s in that age now when she likes to say no to a lot of things,” said Aberg.

After dinner, Aberg will pull out his phone, and together they’ll look through old photos of the two of them together.

“She likes to see herself when she was younger,” said Aberg, smiling. “She thinks she’s so big and old now.”

The irony is not lost on Aberg, who had a lot of growing up to do himself, and fast, with the birth of Molly. He’s aware of temptations that surround young athletes making NHL wages. At first, taking care of Molly meant he didn’t have time to indulge.

“I feel like she helps me stay focused on hockey more. Not focused on the life around (hockey),” said Aberg.

Yet as Aberg has grown into a role so few professional athletes have, being a single father has driven him to become a better, more responsible person. He has something more to play for and is playing some of the best hockey of his life with 24 points in 22 AHL games.

That’s what earned him Friday’s call-up.

“When he’s moving his feet and he’s working to combine with that skill, he’s too much to handle for a lot of people in (the AHL),” said Keefe.

There can be points in the life of every young parent when they look back on their life before parenthood with a sense of longing. Aberg is asked if he has any regrets about his decision to raise Molly largely on his own.

“Not at all,” he said before the question finishes.

He does not wonder what might have been. Prior to this season, there was another discussion with his ex about where Molly would spend the next season. It was a short one.

“We made a choice to (leave her with me) because I had such a good year last year,” said Aberg.

Aberg marvels at just how intertwined his hockey life has become with his life as a father. He points to a cut above his right cheek.

“As soon as I came home with this, she ran to put a band-aid on it,” said Aberg. “When I hurt my foot last year, she played doctor.”

And even though the beginning of his season didn’t go as he had hoped, Aberg’s responsibility helped him avoid the feelings of anger that come with not cracking an NHL squad out of training camp.

On Thursday night, Aberg took Molly skating for just her second time at Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre when he received a call from Leafs assistant GM Laurence Gilman. He was a Maple Leaf.

No time to celebrate, though.

“I had to take the little one home,” said Aberg.

He will try to make the most of his new opportunity. But whatever happens, Aberg knows there is more to his life than hockey.

“She’s helped me,” said Aberg, pausing to look past the reporter in front of him, “stay happier.”