The Maple Leafs might be staring at an unusual kind of problem with Gavin McKenna: he could be too good, too soon.
That sounds like the sort of issue any team would happily take. But in Toronto, it may create a real lineup puzzle before the season even gets rolling.
The conversation around McKenna’s fit has already started, and the most obvious early landing spot is not next to Auston Matthews. The safer move is a more protected role, one that lets the first-overall pick settle in without carrying the full weight of the spotlight right away.
One possible setup has McKenna skating on the second line with John Tavares and William Nylander. That would give him a proven veteran center and a high-end winger to work with while he gets his bearings in the NHL. It’s the kind of placement that makes sense if Toronto wants to ease him in rather than throw him straight into the deep end.
But there’s a catch. If McKenna looks ready from day one, somebody has to move. And that’s where the trouble starts.
If Matthews opens the season with Jack Roslovic and Matthew Knies, then the Leafs have to decide who gets bumped when McKenna pushes for a top-line spot. Does Jim Hiller slide Roslovic down the lineup, even though he’s a proven veteran piece?
Or does Knies end up getting a look on the second line instead? That call, at least for now, depends on how camp plays out.
The best blueprint might be the one the New York Islanders used with Matthew Schaefer last season. They kept their first-overall pick in a sheltered spot on the third pairing with a veteran defense partner, and the Leafs could take a similar approach with McKenna. Putting him beside Tavares on the second line would give him a chance to grow into the league without being immediately asked to carry an offense.
That doesn’t mean Toronto should panic if the goals don’t come right away. The bigger goal is creating the right environment for McKenna to develop into what the Leafs believe he can be.
And if he forces his way into the top line anyway, that’s the best version of this problem. It would be much easier for Toronto to adjust to McKenna earning a bigger role than trying to jam him into one from the start.
If he struggles early, the answer still isn’t to overreact. It’s not realistic to expect an 18-year-old rookie to score 40 goals right out of the gate. He can do it, but it shouldn’t be the standard hanging over him from the first puck drop.
A slower climb would make more sense. Something closer to what Macklin Celebrini did - a strong rookie season followed by a huge jump in year two - would be a reasonable path. If McKenna puts together a good first year, even without eye-popping numbers, the idea of a second-season breakout becomes easy to imagine.
For Leafs fans, that’s the real hope: not just immediate production, but a steady rise toward true top-line status. McKenna may not be a 100-point player yet, but if the progression is there, Toronto will be exactly where it wants to be.
In Other News...
Maple Leafs Quietly Added A Goalie Prospect Fans Barely Know
The Marlies added a small but notable wrinkle to their offseason plans by announcing several AHL-only contract signings, and one of them was Russian goaltender Timofei Obvintsev. For Maple Leafs fans, it is the kind of under-the-radar move that barely registers at first glance, but it does bring a drafted prospect into the organizations day-to-day pipeline and gives Toronto another young goalie to monitor heading into the fall.
Obvintsevs path has been a quiet one so far, with limited playing time in Russian leagues because of injuries and competition. He is expected to compete for the backup job with the Marlies, and there is also a chance he spends time in the ECHL to get more game action. For a team always looking to keep its goaltending depth stocked, it is a low-profile addition that could become a more interesting story once the season gets rolling. [Read more 🡒]
Maple Leafs Still Have A Depth Question Heading Into Camp
Several NHL clubs have already dipped into the professional try-out market before training camp, and that only sharpens the conversation for Toronto as its roster starts to take shape for 2026-27. With John Chayka continuing to tweak the group, the Maple Leafs still look like a team that could use a little more certainty in the bottom of the lineup and on the blue line, especially if they want to protect against injuries and give themselves more competition in camp.
Among the names that make sense as possible PTO fits are defenseman Nick Blankenburg, who has NHL experience with the Predators and Avalanche, and center Curtis Lazar, a versatile veteran who has spent time with several teams. Neither player has been signed by Toronto, but the fit is easy to see, and the Leafs depth picture will be worth watching as camp approaches and the PTO market keeps moving around them. [Read more 🡒]
Morgan Rielly Trade Talk Just Put Torontos Blue Line Under Pressure
Erik Karlsson keeps surfacing in speculative trade conversations, and the latest version of that idea would send him to Toronto in a deal built around Morgan Rielly and additional pieces. It is the kind of proposal that immediately gets attention around the Leafs because it would reshape the blue line in a major way while also forcing the club to think hard about salary cap timing, roster balance, and how much value it wants to attach to a veteran defense core that already carries real expectations.
The wrinkle, of course, is that any move like this lives in the space between possibility and practicality. Karlssons contract status and recent performance make him an intriguing fit for a team trying to line up its window, but the path from theory to actual trade would require player approval and a lot of moving parts beyond Torontos end of the equation. For now, it is less a finished deal than a reminder that the Leafs defense is under a spotlight, with Rielly right at the center of the debate. [Read more 🡒]