The Maple Leafs Are Getting More From John Tavares Than

One thing I’ve learned when talking about the Maple Leafs is that hockey teams aren’t built on contracts and statistics alone. They're built with people.

That came to mind while reading about Gavin McKenna living with John Tavares and his family as he gets ready for his first NHL season. The obvious story is that McKenna is getting a pretty nice introduction to Toronto. But there might be something bigger going on here.

Tavares is doing for McKenna what Doug Weight once did for him.

That's more than a nice hockey story. It's part of what a veteran can give a team that doesn't show up on a stat sheet. Tavares knows what it's like to be the No. 1 pick. He knows what it's like to have everybody watching. He knows what it's like to arrive in the NHL with expectations attached to your name before you've even played a game.

And now he gets to pass some of that experience along. That's probably pretty valuable for McKenna. The kid is coming from Whitehorse. He's 18 years old. He's going to play for the most scrutinized hockey team in Canada, and there will be nights when every shift gets talked about on television, radio, social media and around every coffee shop in the country.

Playing in Toronto carries a lot of pressure, even for a confident 18-year-old.

Having somebody around who can say, "Don't worry about it. This is normal," might be more useful than another hour in the gym. And here's what makes this interesting from the Maple Leafs' perspective. Toronto has spent years talking about leadership. It has brought in veteran players, changed coaches, changed management and tried different combinations of personalities. But leadership isn't always the guy giving the speech before a game.

Sometimes it's the guy who knows when to leave a kid alone. Sometimes it's showing him where to go for dinner. Sometimes it's explaining why everybody is talking about him after a bad game and why he shouldn't pay much attention. Those things matter.

Tavares brings a kind of stability to the Maple Leafs that can’t be measured.

The Maple Leafs have plenty of talented players. What they haven't always had is enough stability around those players. Tavares can provide some of that, even if his role on the ice continues to change. And maybe that's one of the underrated benefits of having a veteran like him around.

At this stage of his career, Tavares doesn't have to prove that he's the best player in the room. He doesn't have to carry everything. He can help make the room better. That's a different kind of value.

McKenna will eventually have to deal with Toronto on his own. He'll have bad games. He'll have great games. He'll learn that being a Maple Leaf means people have opinions about everything.

McKenna doesn’t have to negotiate being a rookie all by himself.

The Maple Leafs may have drafted McKenna first overall, but they've also given him something else: a veteran who has already walked the road he's about to travel. And sometimes, the best thing an organization can do for a young player is put the right person beside him.