Maple Leafs repeat John Tavares rookie plan with No. 1 pick Gavin McKenna

Gavin McKenna isn't just living with a veteran. Toronto has placed its 18-year-old No. 1 pick with someone who entered the NHL exactly the same way.

There's always a leader on every team who takes the young guns under their wing in their first year in the NHL. The Maple Leafs had Patrick Marleau taking care of Auston Matthews during his first years with the team, and Easton Cowan had the luxury of John Tavares last year.

Now, Gavin McKenna is the latest rookie who is in need of a veteran mentor to keep an eye on him this season, and once again - it's the Maple Leafs former captain who has taken the responsibility.

The Hockey News' Michael Traikos revealed on social media that Tavares confirmed McKenna will be staying with him this season:

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Tavares has quietly become part of Toronto's rookie development system

That makes it two straight seasons that the Maple Leafs have entrusted Tavares to look after one of their young rookies, and honestly - you can't get anyone better. Tavares is a routine-oriented fitness machine, so McKenna ensuring he always has proper nutrition and fitness advice is going to be crucial to his development.

But also that, Tavares admitted that being around a family and having that environment to decompress is also a vital part of any player's growth, and his previous role as a mentee weighed heavily on his decision to add McKenna to his household:

I think just the benefit he'll get just being around a family and also sometimes, obviously, the amount of attention he's going to receive. I think hopefully when he can come home, he can kind of decompress and disconnect and just be part of that family environment, I think, can be really beneficial.

Tavares himself experienced essentially the same living arrangement with Doug Weight as a teenage first-overall pick - and has now turned it into a repeated Toronto development tool.

He's also a haven for any advice on dealing with the Toronto media, and Tavares can teach McKenna some tricks about how to approach the media with class and integrity, but also transparency and honesty.

While it may not have been immediately apparent last year, obviously Cowan's exposure to Tavares helped him in his rookie year, and despite even being sat for a month - never lost his confidence in himself or his future.

You could argue that living with Tavares prepared him for that, and he could enter the season with the mentality that things may not go as planned, but that's all part of the journey. He was never alone as he navigated his first season, and always had a chance to ask for help.

There's clearly a comfort level with the Maple Leafs by allowing Tavares to look over their prospects, and why wouldn't there be? A former captain who is beloved around the league and who carved out an impressive and lengthy career that's still cruising to this day. That's invaluable to any rookie's growth.

McKenna may learn more from Tavares at breakfast than he does in a rookie meeting

Plus, there's also something more human and relatable to having McKenna live with Tavares. It gives him a chance to learn in a more comfortable environment, with a one-on-one aspect being a key component.

Sitting around the table eating dinner, chatting, just learning about each other is not only going to make living together easier, but also provide some unseen chemistry between the two. Tavares and McKenna learning each other's quirks means they can form a stronger bond, and develop that offensive firepower together much sooner.

Which is why it may not be a bad idea to start McKenna with Tavares, knowing that the two are going to be together for the season. There's always room for him to move up, but starting with the player entrusted to keep watch over you makes too much sense - at least to start.

Learning routines, habits, and how each other operate is going to be important and McKenna can start to emulate some of Tavares' actions in order to better set himself up for the future. It's a lot more valuable to have it every day than simply once or twice a week.

McKenna could end up learning a lot from John Tavares not only on the ice but off it too, and it'll be great for his development as he gets more and more comfortable with being an NHL star.

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