Gavin McKenna Learning There's No Place to Hide in Toronto

Gavin McKenna has played three NHL games for the Maple Leafs. In those three games, he still doesn't have a point, and we're already talking about whether he's feeling the pressure of Toronto. That might actually be the most Toronto thing imaginable.

McKenna was asked Tuesday about his “welcome to the NHL” moment. He smiled and suggested that going three games without a point in Toronto might qualify. It was a pretty good answer from an 18-year-old who has apparently figured out something very quickly.

In Toronto, nothing stays small for McKenna for long.

A pointless game can become a story. A decision not to participate in an optional skate can become a story. A teenager's answer to a media question can become a story about how he's handling the pressure. And I don't think we need to blame anybody for that. This is just what happens when you play for the Maple Leafs.

Steven Stamkos offered an interesting perspective. He talked about being drafted first overall by Tampa Bay and how different his experience was because relatively few people in the city knew him. He suggested Toronto is a pressure cooker.

I think that's worth remembering. McKenna isn't being asked to play hockey in a vacuum. He's playing hockey in a city where the Maple Leafs are part of the daily conversation. He is also an 18-year-old trying to figure out the NHL while millions of people are watching. That's a lot.

McKenna’s first lesson about Toronto is that nothing he does is small.

Maybe McKenna's first lesson in Toronto isn't about scoring goals. Maybe it's about learning what belongs to him and what doesn't. His job is to do what his coach asks. He needs to practice, play, learn, compete and eventually produce. His job isn't to control what gets written about him after three games. It isn't to make everybody happy. And it certainly isn't to prove after three NHL games that being the first overall pick was justified.

Connor McDavid had one point in his first four NHL games. That doesn't mean McKenna will become McDavid. It simply means that even extraordinary young players sometimes need a little time. I also liked that McKenna answered the question with humour. That's probably a good sign. There is something healthy about being able to look at all this noise and smile a little.

The Maple Leafs drafted McKenna for the long haul.

Because the Maple Leafs didn't draft McKenna to win the first three games of his career. They drafted him because they believe in what he might become. The rest of us probably need to give him a chance to become it.

Three games is barely an introduction. For McKenna, the real NHL story is just beginning. By the way, if anyone’s watching, Ivar Stenberg has a single assist in his three games with the Sharks. He’s killing it, right?