The Maple Leafs' Future Has Arrived Again: When Will It End?

Toronto Maple Leafs fans have heard about the future for a long time. There was a time when William Nylander was the future. Then Mitch Marner was the future. Then Auston Matthews was the future.

And, for a while, that was exactly what the Maple Leafs were supposed to do. Be patient. Let the young players develop. Give them time to grow into stars. It made sense. Matthews arrived in 2016. Marner was already in the organization. Nylander was developing into an NHL player. Suddenly, Toronto had one of the most exciting young groups in hockey.

The future looked pretty good for the Maple Leafs 10 years ago.

The problem was that the future eventually arrived. Matthews wasn't a prospect anymore. Neither were Marner and Nylander. They became established NHL stars, and Toronto became a team that was supposed to win rather than a team that was supposed to be learning how to win. But something interesting happened along the way.

The language never completely changed. There was always another piece coming. Another young player who might help. Another prospect who could eventually make the difference. Another season when everything might finally come together. Toronto kept talking about its young players as the future while sometimes acting as though the future hadn't arrived yet.

That's what makes Gavin McKenna so interesting.

The Maple Leafs have just won the draft lottery and added another extraordinary young player. But McKenna isn't arriving on a rebuilding team with a five-year plan. He's arriving with Matthews under contract. He's arriving with William Nylander. He's arriving with Matthew Knies and Easton Cowan.

He's arriving on a team that has already spent years trying to turn young talent into a Stanley Cup contender. McKenna can still be part of the future. He's only 18. But Toronto can't afford to treat him simply as another reason to wait.

That's the difference this time. The future has arrived again. Only now is the organization different. It has to figure out how to make that future part of the present.

That's where John Chayka and Jim Hiller come in for the Maple Leafs.

They don't have the luxury of telling everyone to be patient. They have to figure out how Matthews, Nylander, McKenna, Cowan and the rest of the roster can actually work together. Maybe that's the biggest challenge facing the Maple Leafs. Not finding another young star. Not finding another prospect. Not finding another reason to believe the team will be better someday.

The team must get better now. Because Toronto has spent enough time waiting for the future. The future has arrived.

Now the Maple Leafs have to do something with it.