Gavin McKenna is spending his offseason with a former Maple Leaf

Gavin McKenna is making his offseason training fairly public, as we're seeing a whole lot of really cool highlights from him as the hype builds and builds until he makes his NHL debut with the Toronto Maple Leafs in a couple months. This means we get to see what current NHLers he's doing some of his training with, and there's a former Leaf among them.

The 2026 first-overall pick has been doing a lot of his on-ice training with the Kavio Hockey group -- an advanced training system that takes in some cutting-edge stuff like cognitive speed and just about everything else to try and get an advantage on your future opponent. It's based out of British Columbia so the Yukon native has been spending a whole lot of time down south from his home province.

Macklin Celebrini has been one of the current stars who is participating in on-ice training sessions with McKenna, but that's not important. So what if McKenna is training with someone who is projected to battle Connor McDavid for the title of best player in the world? He didn't get to play for our team.

One other player that is hanging out with the next Leafs star is a player who did call Toronto home not so long ago. It's Alex Kerfoot.

The actual drill isn't all that important, but maybe just the fact that McKenna is spending time with someone who did play in Toronto for a good chunk of time and now is no longer a part of the team. We're sure McKenna might be able to get more of an honest read on what it is like to play for the Leafs from Kerfoot rather than someone like Mats Sundin.

Kerfoot was a part of one of the biggest trades that Kyle Dubas made, sending Nazem Kadri to the Colorado Avalanche. He was seen as an adequate third-line centre and was certainly that. He had his detractors but he did average 40 points per 82 games while playing in a depth role and having good underlying numbers. He's not the most exciting talent, but he had a role that he was best suited for.

The 31-year-old forward left in free agency as general manager Brad Treliving, who was hired just a month before free agency opened up in 2023, decided to not re-sign him. He went on to play for the Arizona Coyotes (which turned into the Utah Mammoth) for the last three seasons -- putting up similar numbers to his time in Toronto -- and most recently signed a two-year, $3.5-million AAV contract with the Nashville Predators.

A perfectly serviceable talent was on the ice with someone who might get a little bit more hype around him in Toronto.

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