Why the Leafs next two games will be Gavin McKenna’s chance to shine

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As bandleader Lawrence Welk used to intro “ah one, and ah two” … and three days of top NHL draft picks making music on the Toronto stage. 

Maple Leafs first overall Gavin McKenna, provided he’s not relegated to understudy again, faces last year’s top pick, defenceman Matthew Schaefer, on Saturday when the New York Islanders are here. 

Then on Monday, the pick that winger McKenna edged for top spot in June, Ivar Stenberg, visits with the San Jose Sharks alongside 2024’s No. 1, Macklin Celebrini.

Stenberg’s centre, Michael Misa, was second selection to Schaefer and both are GTA natives anxious to shine at home. 

How has Schaefer’s second season been looking?

Schaefer, the near unanimous Calder Trophy winner last year, has been through town once already and coach Jim Hiller’s team was able, by design or luck, to limit his game-high 28 minutes to six shot attempts, three that hit the net, while committing two giveaways. 

On a team struggling to score, the lanky 6-foot-3 Schaefer has six assists in seven games, and though shut out of points Thursday versus Ottawa, he toiled just under 30 minutes.

Schaefer has said this second season will be spent in part mastering the role of shutdown defender. He ranked in the top 30 of league shifts-per-game as of Friday afternoon at 27.4. 

What does the weekend hold for McKenna?

McKenna didn’t get anything against Schaefer and the Isles as he started the year with no points in three games, but Thursday’s curious decision to sit him from the second period onward was his first pointless outing in his past five appearances.

That had been the longest streak by an 18-year-old Leaf since the 1980s, when names such as Jim Benning and Russ Courtnall were thrown right into the NHL by Toronto management with little preparation and support. 

McKenna said Thursday morning that finally getting his name on the scoresheet and chipping in assists was a tremendous confidence boost.  

“Every game I’m trying to get better,” he said. “Getting more puck touches and being around it a little bit more … if I do that, I think it will keep happening.” 

But somehow, in Hiller’s blending of new lines against Buffalo and in trying to protect a 4-2 lead, McKenna was left in the stable while the Leafs frittered away a 5-4 overtime loss.

McKenna was not made available to media after the loss, while Hiller’s reasoning that McKenna was out of the game flow after Toronto had to kill a couple of penalties seem flawed. McKenna has shown some defensive chops, a neat back-check on Colorado’s dangerous Nathan MacKinnon on Saturday in the 6-3 win.  

The benching might be old news after Saturday’s game (Friday was a day off for the Leafs), but defensive coverage by both forwards and defence is a concern with 20 regulation/overtime goals against the past five games and no Chris Tanev on the blueline.

What’s Stenberg’s NHL initiation been like?

Stenberg, with four points in seven games including a couple of power-play assists, is heavier than McKenna and played against men in the Swedish League last year.

With Mats Sundin joining the Leafs front office, some wondered if he might lobby for his Swedish countryman Stenberg leading up to the draft, but McKenna has been everything the Leafs hoped for to date, fitting seamlessly into a veteran team and a demanding market. 

Stenberg, like McKenna, has made learning the ropes defensively in the NHL a priority, stung by a minus-five so far.

“I want to get pucks deep, win races, things like that,” Stenberg said this week after Celebrini set up his first NHL goal.

Stenberg, Celebrini, Misa and Will Smith are expected to be a dynamic combination for years on a Sharks team that’s hoarded high selections, with three in June’s first round alone. 

Lhornby@postmedia.com 

X: @sunhornby 

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