Wayne Gretzky was asked about Gavin McKenna on The Pat McAfee Show, and he started with the part of the situation nobody in Toronto particularly wants to dwell on.
“They’re in a rebuilding process, there’s no question. If you get the first overall it means you didn’t have a really good year the year before,” Gretzky said.
From there it turned into something closer to sympathy. Gretzky’s view is that McKenna hasn’t just landed in a difficult hockey situation, but in about the most scrutinized position available to an 18-year-old anywhere in the sport.
“My hat goes off to this young man. It’s one thing to go to Toronto and be the first pick overall,” Gretzky said. “There’s way more pressure if you’re a Canadian boy and you get drafted No. 1 in Canada and Toronto.”
Why is there so much pressure on Gavin McKenna?
Coming from a player who spent two decades as the most scrutinised Canadian athlete alive, that carries some weight. What Gretzky likes is how the teenager has carried it so far.
“I’ve listened to a lot of what he’s said, it seems like he’s very mature for 18 years old,” he said. “Listen, it’s going to take a little bit of time, he’s a young kid and not very big, but he’s going to grow and get bigger and stronger, but I really like how he’s handled himself with the media and the game itself.”
The size point isn’t an unreasonable one. McKenna is listed at 5-foot-11 and 164 pounds, which puts him among the lighter forwards in the league before he’s played a full month in it.
READ MORE: Wayne Gretzky settles the Connor McDavid exit talk
Gretzky then went further than most would on the Toronto Maple Leafs as a whole, a team that finished bottom of the Atlantic Division last season and has since replaced much of its roster.
“He’s going to be fine, and I think the group in Toronto has put together a nice little hockey club here,” Gretzky said. “They’re going to be a better team than people anticipate.”
The early returns have been modest. McKenna went pointless with a minus-2 rating in 15:19 on debut as Toronto lost 3-2 to Montreal, having arrived in the league after 51 points in 35 games at Penn State and a top-10 finish in Hobey Baker voting.
Read more:
