Gavin McKenna keeps skipping optional Leafs sessions, and it's becoming impossible to ignore

Gavin McKenna was missing again Sunday when the Toronto Maple Leafs held an optional skills session.

Third time this season. For the 2026 first overall pick, still hunting his first NHL point, the timing could hardly be worse.

Through three games, the 18-year-old has no goals, no assists and a -3 rating.

Nobody on the roster sits lower. Only Darren Raddysh shares that mark on the Toronto blue line, and he's at least chipped in a power play assist.

And the Leafs can't afford passengers right now. They're 1-2-0 with all three games played on home ice, scoring six goals and allowing seven.

Saturday's 3-2 loss to Ottawa stung. Tuesday brings Nashville to town, and then comes a three-game road trip through Vegas, Colorado and Utah.

Auston Matthews and his whole line showed up when the rookie didn't

Here's the part that won't sit well in the locker room. Matthews was on the ice Sunday, and he brought his entire line with him.

Kirill Marchenko and Jack Roslovic both skated. Easton Cowan and Nick Paul were out there too, and so was 36-year-old Chris Tanev, who had every excuse to rest his legs.

Cowan is the most pointed comparison. The 21-year-old already owns a power play goal, a game-winner and 3 points, and he still wanted the extra work.

Matthews has just one goal of his own so far. He treated an optional skate like a guy with something to fix.

McKenna? Nowhere to be found, and three absences before mid-October starts to feel like a habit.

There's a wrinkle worth noting. His family is headed back to the Yukon, and if Sunday was their last day in the city, choosing family over an optional is easy to understand.

Nobody in Toronto should begrudge him that one.

Picture a first-year associate leaving the office at five while the senior partners stay late. Nothing's technically wrong, but everybody notices.

Here's the blunt version. A pointless rookie carrying a $1,075,000 cap hit doesn't get to treat optional skates like they're meant for other people.

He did log one-on-one work at practice ahead of the Ottawa game, so the effort isn't zero. The issue is how three skips look next to a scoresheet with nothing on it.

So what does Jim Hiller do with that? Every coach gives a teenager rope early, but rope runs out faster when the team is losing.

Nashville arrives Tuesday night. If McKenna stays off the scoresheet again and the Leafs head west with a losing record, the next optional skate becomes the one everybody watches.

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