Gavin McKenna spent his summer skating beside Macklin Celebrini in British Columbia, and the hours they logged together are turning heads.
McKenna, the Toronto Maple Leafs' incoming rookie, opened up about the training grind this week in a widely shared clip.
"My trainers probably won't like to hear this, but there was a week where we were on the ice for like 17 hours," McKenna said, via NHL.com.
That's not a typo. Seventeen hours in a single week, split between two of the sport's most talked about young players.
"It was crazy, but every skate out there, you're getting better, and it's a competitive group. So, I've had a lot of fun with it," McKenna added.
Celebrini isn't just some training partner off the street either. He just wrapped a 115-point season with the San Jose Sharks, going 45-70 across 82 games.
Celebrini's own numbers explain why McKenna wanted him in the gym
He added eight power play goals, twenty-five power play assists, and five game winners along the way. That's a workload most 20 year olds never touch.
McKenna described him as intense both on and off the ice, and said stepping into that kind of environment pushed him.
"He's a pretty intense guy when it comes to his off-ice and on-ice stuff. To be in that environment and get into a routine, it felt good. I had a lot of fun, and I felt like I got better," McKenna said.
Here's the thing. McKenna isn't walking into just any roster. Toronto finished 32-36-14 last season, good for 78 points and 28th overall, and dropped their final seven games straight.
Jim Hiller inherits a team that closed 2-7-1 down the stretch, and McKenna is supposed to be a big part of fixing that in a hurry.
Training with a proven point producer like Celebrini is one thing. Doing it inside a Toronto market that's out of patience is a completely different test.
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Seventeen hours on the ice sounds impressive in July. Whether it means anything by October is the only question that actually matters.
Will Gavin McKenna's offseason grind with Macklin Celebrini translate into instant NHL production for the Maple Leafs?
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