The Toronto Maple Leafs have lost two of three to start the season, and for rookie phenom Gavin McKenna, he's been statistically the worst player of the bunch.
There was a lot of excitement and hype surrounding McKenna after being the first overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft. The uber-talented teenager has all the tools to be a superstar in the NHL, and is already getting a lot of attention early on.
But that attention may not be for the best, given that McKenna has still yet to score his first point in the NHL (though should have easily had one vs. Montreal). It's still very early in the season, and he's only had three games under his belt, so the points are going to come in time - we just need patience.
Gavin McKenna is statistically Toronto's worst player
Though it's not the lack of points that are starting to draw concerns from the Maple Leafs faithful, as it turns out McKenna's leap to the NHL has been less than fruitful.
-
McKenna ranked worst on the team in 5v5 xG%, and is undisputedly the worst in the top six.
Per MoneyPuck, McKenna has a -0.3 goals above expected, ranks fourth worst on the team in on-ice expected goals for, and ranks towards the bottom for all players.
Only Teddy Blueger, Bo Groulx and Zack MacEwen are worse - but they are all bottom-six or defensively-minded forwards; or in MacEwen's case, only played a few minutes of the first game.
With a minimum of 20 minutes played - he's only better than Blueger and Brandon Duhaime.
He's been on the ice for three goals against, he's a minus-3, has only been on the ice for one goal for, which was a power play goal but he didn't really touch the puck; just a quick deflection that led to the eventual goal, but no assist.
What can Toronto do to stop the bleeding on the second line?
Teams are dominating his line because they are not capable of keeping the puck for any length of time. Once McKenna or Tavares get pushed off the puck, it's harder for them to get back into defensive positioning.
Jim Hiller could make a chance to move McKenna down to a more favourable spot alongside Nick Paul and Colton Sissons. You still gain the offence that Easton Cowan brings, but have that protection defensively in Paul and Sissons.
Plus, Cowan is the type of player who would thrive on that line. As a puck hound, he can constantly pressure opponents and use his speed and creativity to open up space or find William Nylander wandering into the zone - and every dump-in becomes a scoring opportunity.
McKenna is not a bad player, and there's obviously a skill gap between being in the WHL and NCAA as opposed to the NHL. His time will come, but if the Maple Leafs want that to be sooner than later, maybe they need to give him a bit more protection around him.
Has Gavin McKenna been a disappointment for the Maple Leafs so far this season?
Also read on Hockey Patrol :
Maple Leafs trade multiple high-end prospects for Simon Edvinsson in new proposal