Are the Maple Leafs Making Life Easier for Gavin McKenna?

I really like something about Luca Pampena’s work. He doesn't just look at a young player and decide whether they’re good. He starts asking what happens when that player gets put in the right situation. And his argument for Gavin McKenna winning the Calder Trophy got me thinking.

Maybe the question isn't whether McKenna is ready to be a star. Maybe the question is whether the Toronto Maple Leafs are about to give him almost everything a young player could ask for.

McKenna has been given a great set of Maple Leafs linemates.

Pampena has McKenna starting the season alongside John Tavares and William Nylander. Think about that for a minute. A rookie doesn't have to walk into the NHL and become Auston Matthews. He doesn't have to carry an offence. He just has to find some space, make good plays and take advantage of the opportunities sitting right there beside him.

And McKenna has plenty of skill. He can make plays. He sees the ice. He already looked comfortable in preseason. More importantly, he has played with enough confidence that the Maple Leafs seem perfectly willing to see what happens when they put him beside established NHL stars.

That's where the Calder conversation gets interesting. We've seen rookies put up big numbers when they're dropped into the right environment. Artemi Panarin had Patrick Kane. Cale Makar walked into a terrific Colorado team. Sometimes being a young star isn't about doing everything yourself.

Sometimes winning the Calder is about having really good players around you.

And Toronto has those players. If McKenna stays healthy, gets top-six minutes and eventually works his way onto the first power-play unit, 70 points doesn't sound completely crazy. That's a lot for a rookie.

But here's the secondary story I think is even more interesting. The Maple Leafs may not be protecting McKenna from the NHL. They may be accelerating him into it. There's a difference. Putting a young player beside Tavares or Nylander isn't asking him to carry the mail. It's giving him a chance to learn what NHL offence looks like from guys who have been doing it for years.

There are still questions. His defensive game needs work. He's not the biggest guy. And if Toronto goes heavily defensive under Jim Hiller, that could make life harder for him.

These kinds of Calder discussions are what make hockey thinking fun.

McKenna doesn't need to be perfect. He needs to be useful. If he can be that rookie who keeps finding the right spots, keeps making plays and keeps getting minutes beside elite players, the Calder conversation could get very serious very quickly.

Maybe Pampena is right. Maybe the biggest thing Gavin McKenna has going for him isn't just his talent. Maybe it's where he gets to use it.