Is it Calder Trophy or bust for Toronto Maple Leafs forward Gavin McKenna this year?
After winning the NHL Draft Lottery, the Toronto Maple Leafs lucked out by securing the No. 1 overall draft pick, ultimately selecting forward Gavin McKenna first overall. After it looked like the team would be gifting their first round draft pick to the Boston Bruins, a miracle happened as the organization was gifted a future superstar.
This first-overall selection is a lot different than the last time they secured it a decade prior. With Mike Babcock hired and “pain coming” the Leafs tanked the 2015-16 season, calling up a new player seemingly every night and finished dead-last. Although the best draft lottery odds don’t always mean first-overall, as shown by this past lottery, Toronto’s “tank” worked and it resulted in them selecting Auston Matthews in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft.
We all know how the last decade has gone with Matthews. A multiple Maurice “Rocket” Richard, Calder Trophy and Hart Trophy winner, the now-captain of the blue-and-white went from being the future, to the face of this organization. Although he has “struggled” over the past few years, due to injuries and/or the absence of Mitch Marner, he’s still one of the deadliest scorers in the league and we’re all hopeful that a new coach will bring him back to his scoring ways, as Craig Berube unfortunately didn’t help that cause.
As we look back on the past 10 years of Matthews, McKenna’s first check-mark to match Matthews is to win the Calder Trophy but is that too much to ask? I don’t think so.
McKenna is joining a Leafs team and will most likely get to play alongside one of (or multiple) William Nylander, John Tavares, and Matthews. There are not too many rookies who get to jump into a line-up and playing alongside that elite of talent right away, which makes sense.
McKenna may be the next Matthews
Typically the team who wins the NHL Draft Lottery is a bottom-feeder, so that rookie is the team’s best player, but on this roster, you could argue that McKenna is maybe the fifth best scoring forward, behind Matthews, Nylander, Tavares and Matthew Knies.
With so much star-power beside him and a group of veterans, McKenna will be given every opportunity to succeed and his play-making abilities will make him shine.
Matthews’ best years came when he had an elite pass-first winger beside him and you could see how much he missed that last year when Marner left. Fortunately for Matthews, McKenna is an elite passer and will be looking for the captain all day, especially on the power-play.
As such, McKenna should be the favourite to win the Calder Trophy this year and should help not only Matthews get back to a Rocket Richard Trophy but could help Nylander just as much.
The hype train around McKenna hasn’t arrived yet, but after the first week of the season, expect this player to be the face of Toronto and well on his way to becoming the NHL’s rookie of the year.
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