Maple Leafs News and Rumours: McKenna, Depth Options & More Interesting Choices

The Toronto Maple Leafs finished their preseason with a 6–1 win over the Ottawa Senators, but the final score probably isn’t the most interesting thing from the night. Preseason games are funny that way. You can win big and still learn very little about what will happen when the games count.

But there was plenty to think about. Auston Matthews scored one of those classic Auston Matthews goals, and as the game wore on, it seemed like everybody wearing a Toronto jersey started looking pretty good. That included Gavin McKenna, who is making it increasingly difficult to think he’ll have much trouble adjusting to the NHL. From what fans have seen so far, he has an amazing skill set that would be tough to contain. There’s an awful lot to like about his game.

Gavin McKenna May Already Be Making the Lineup Decisions Interesting

The McKenna story isn’t really that he looked good against Ottawa. Everybody already knows the young forward can play. What stands out is how he seems to see the game.

Young players often get the puck and immediately want to get rid of it. They don’t want to make the mistake that gets noticed. McKenna seems to have the opposite instinct. He holds onto the puck, looks around, waits for something to happen and then makes a decision. A little self-pass at centre ice caught the eye, but it was the calmness behind the play that was interesting.

The Maple Leafs did give him some time with Matthews late in the game, and that naturally gets everybody wondering. Could McKenna eventually play alongside Matthews? Could he start with John Tavares and William Nylander? Those are questions for another day, and this was still preseason hockey against an Ottawa lineup that wasn’t at full strength. But McKenna has now done enough that the question may not be whether he belongs. It may be how the team wants to use him.

That’s a pretty remarkable place for an 18-year-old to be before his first NHL season.

The Maple Leafs Have a Lot of Good Options — And That Creates Its Own Problem

And McKenna isn’t the only reason the Maple Leafs have some decisions to make. One thing that has become apparent through these preseason games is that Jim Hiller has options. Quite a few of them.

Some players can move up the lineup, others can fill different jobs, and others will push each other for minutes. Jack Roslovic brings some scoring ability. Matthew Knies has the size and skill to make an impact. Then there is the whole collection of players competing for bottom-six jobs. Suddenly, there aren’t many spots where a player can assume the job is his.

That’s actually a pretty healthy situation for a coach. The problem is that there are only so many minutes to distribute. Somebody is going to sit. Somebody is going to start lower in the lineup than he would like. Somebody is going to get an opportunity because another player isn’t quite doing the job.

And that’s where preseason ends and the real work begins. The games have given Hiller options. Now he has to figure out which of those possibilities actually make the Maple Leafs a better hockey team.

What’s Next for the Maple Leafs?

The interesting part of the McKenna situation is that the Maple Leafs don’t have to force anything. It’s getting harder to imagine that he isn’t ready. So the task is to find the right place for him. But when an 18-year-old starts making those decisions, that’s usually a sign that something positive is happening.

The bigger picture may matter even more. Toronto has spent much of this summer adding players with specific jobs and creating competition for the remaining ones. Now Hiller has to put all those pieces together. The preseason gave him a lot of answers, but it also gave him a few new questions. And McKenna might be the most interesting question of all.