Gavin McKenna is already putting in extra work for the Toronto Maple Leafs, and he's doing it next to one of the best young players in hockey.
A clip posted by Leafslatest on Sunday has already picked up 93,000 views, showing McKenna deep into an offseason skate.
In the video, McKenna weaves through a resistance band drill, drops his shoulder and cuts hard around a skating coach working the ice with him.
He's training in Vancouver alongside Macklin Celebrini, the Sharks center who just wrapped a monster season.
Celebrini finished with 45 goals and 70 assists, good for 115 points, over his most recent NHL campaign.
McKenna became Toronto's first overall pick after the Maple Leafs stumbled to 78 points and a minus-46 goal differential.
New head coach Jim Hiller was hired on June 17, and he's stepping straight into a rebuild that leans heavily on McKenna panning out.
Jim Hiller inherits a Leafs rebuild built around McKenna
Pairing a projected franchise center with someone who just delivered a 115-point year is not an accident. Vancouver is not a random stop for a top pick chasing summer reps.
Watching McKenna shadow Celebrini's habits feels a bit like a rookie pitcher tagging along with a Cy Young winner during January bullpen sessions, hoping something rubs off before camp opens.
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Toronto is not shy about how much they're banking on this kid. A franchise that finished near the bottom of the league does not get to be picky about its rebuild timeline.
Training camp is still months out, and how much of this offseason grind actually shows up on an NHL scoresheet is the real question nobody can answer yet.
Hiller has not dressed a single game as Toronto's coach. McKenna has not played a single shift in the NHL. Both stories start at the same time this fall.
The Maple Leafs have put a lot of hope into one teenager sweating through summer drills on the West Coast. Whether that hope survives an 82-game season is a completely different conversation.
Should the Maple Leafs push Gavin McKenna to make the NHL roster straight out of training camp?
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