Gavin McKenna was spending time with Mitch Marner — what it could mean for the Leafs

As we inch closer to training camp and actually seeing some players of the Toronto Maple Leafs play hockey, leading to actually watching some worthwhile games during the 2026-27 season, summer is starting to wind down for those around the league.

Maybe they spend some time with family and friends in their hometown, or just keep on training as hard as possible to make some noise and win a roster battle in the coming weeks.

For Maple Leafs top prospect and the most recent first-overall pick, Gavin McKenna, he's back in Ontario after spending some time in his home province of the Yukon. He was seen recently in Muskoka, clearly enjoying some cottage time before his rookie season starts and months of many firsts in his hopefully lengthy NHL career.

McKenna was seen spending that time in some of the most beautiful parts of this province with several NHL stars. One just so happened to be Mitch Marner, the controversial figure in Leafs Nation.

While it's none of our business to really care about who a player of our favourite team is spending time with -- since we're just fans and the players are the players -- but it could be interesting and really start to develop into a big positive and maybe a big negative if McKenna soaks up everything Marner might say about being a Leaf.

Should Leafs fans be concerned about McKenna being with Marner?

The initial reaction is a negative one. The wound of Marner rejecting a franchise-record contract to continue playing for his beloved Maple Leafs and then go off and pursue the easy route -- playing for the Vegas Golden Knights with a dedicated-but-tiny fan base and almost zero actual pressure to perform.

If McKenna wants to accept everything Marner says about being a Leaf, then maybe one day he will eventually want to get tired of the spotlight that comes with playing in the centre of the hockey universe. Maybe he will eventually, after a bad playoffs or two, get sick of the criticism and see that Marner went a certain way and he will follow him.

That's basically the nightmare scenario. But there could be a positive way to spin this.

If Marner and McKenna really start talking a lot and the rookie leans on him for some advice or just general mentorship, then special things could happen on the ice. Both players are smaller wingers who are elite playmakers. The one massive difference in both of them is the defensive side of the puck.

Marner is simply one of the best defensive wingers in hockey, and that with also being able to rack up 100 or so points makes him such a dangerous threat. We saw it for several years here in Toronto. McKenna's main concern and why some scouts didn't love him as the first-overall pick is his lack of attention to the defensive side of the puck, or just general work ethic in anything but an offensive situation.

Suddenly if McKenna has a Marner-level of defense (or even something close to it) because he gets some training from him and follows that same path, then we have a truly special player on our hands. Maybe someone who can eventually become a better player than Marner ever was on the Leafs.

There's two sides to every coin, we suppose.

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