McKenna told ESPN\u2019s Emily Kaplan<\/a>. \u201cAnd of course you want to win a Calder Trophy in your rookie season. I think if that happens, that\u2019s a pretty good year.\u201d<\/p>\nMcKenna, 18, signed his entry\u2011level contract after a standout freshman season at Penn State. With the contract, Toronto expects him to compete for top\u2011six minutes immediately, and the organization has made it clear that his development is tied directly to its win\u2011now ambitions.<\/p>\n
Luckily for McKenna, he already has support to lean on in the Maple Leafs locker room, especially from captain Auston Matthews.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had our convos and I\u2019ve asked him for advice. He\u2019s been an open book,\u201d McKenna said. \u201cI think we\u2019ve just gone through similar things, so just trying to navigate through Toronto and how to deal with the media and stuff like that. He\u2019s done a good job with it, so smart guy to go to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Toronto missed the postseason last year, but general manager John Chayka responded with an aggressive offseason, from picking up league veterans to picking up a sought-after rookie like McKenna. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou see what Chayka is doing, you see the players he\u2019s bringing in, I think we obviously want to go on a run this year,\u201d McKenna said. \u201cSo it\u2019s very fortunate for me to go to a team like that who\u2019s hungry and in that winning environment. It\u2019s pretty common that players who get drafted first overall go to a team who\u2019s tanking and it\u2019s not the case for me. I know I\u2019ve gotten lucky.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even with the pressure surrounding him, McKenna says he won\u2019t lose sight of where he came from. <\/p>\n
The Whitehorse, Yukon native grew up in a tight\u2011knit community, and his family\u2019s story, particularly his grandfather\u2019s experience in Canada\u2019s residential school system, shaped his outlook.<\/p>\n
\u201cGrowing up in a small community, you\u2019ve got a lot of supporters,\u201d McKenna said. \u201cSo everyone there kind of knows me in a way. And for me, I want to lead by example and be a good role model for the kids and even the adults.\u201d<\/p>\n
One lesson from home is a must for McKenna:\u00a0\u201cStay humble.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cYou never want to be that guy who\u2019s known for having an ego or being cocky,\u201d McKenna said. \u201cI think for me, my family did a good job at that. [My parents] are both very smart humans and they\u2019re both athletes. So they\u2019ve kind of showed me how to do it. And I think that\u2019s something I\u2019ll try and carry with me forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
McKenna will play his first game for Toronto on September 29 against the Montreal Canadiens in Scotiabank Arena. <\/p>\n
\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/52800911856_59cd1aae88_o-500x500.jpg\")
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Alex is a third-year Journalism major from Sarasota, Florida. Alex is a huge Tampa Bay sports fan and even has a cat named Kucherov. You can contact her at [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gavin McKenna hasn\u2019t played a game for the Toronto Maple Leafs yet, but understands his role as the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":162386,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[336,5471,29652,52276,10777,10879,8202,1612,52277,765,10881,1225,268,7350,52278,3092,37901,52279,3132,271,2235,52280,10886,10887,10889,10890,10891,20830,6708,48,52281],"class_list":["post-162385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-336","tag-2026-nhl-draft","tag-2026-27-nhl-season","tag-auston-matthes","tag-bank","tag-big-ten","tag-chicago","tag-draft","tag-emily-kaplan","tag-espn","tag-gavin","tag-gavin-mckenna","tag-hockey","tag-john-chayka","tag-leaf","tag-maple","tag-mckenna","tag-mens-hockey","tag-ncaa-hockey","tag-nhl","tag-nhl-draft","tag-nhlpa","tag-onward-state","tag-penn-state","tag-penn-state-mens-hockey","tag-psu","tag-puck","tag-scotia","tag-scotiabank-arena","tag-toronto","tag-toronto-maple-leaf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162385\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}