Gavin McKenna’s poise, Auston Matthews’ refreshed look, other Maple Leafs camp takeaways

With the Maple Leafs in the Arizona desert this weekend for a bonding trip, we offer takeaways from the short camp and pre-season.

Published Sep 25, 2026  •  5 minute read

Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs skates during warm-up prior to the preseason game against the Ottawa Senators. Getty Images

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Some takeaways from Maple Leafs camp and the pre-season as the team enjoys a bonding weekend in the Arizona desert:

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THE EMERGENCE OF GAVIN MCKENNA

True, the first pick in the 2026 draft hasn’t yet played against a full National Hockey League lineup, but it’s kind of hard to not get ahead of ourselves regarding the 18-year-old, isn’t it?

Undoubtedly, there will be a good test for McKenna — and the Leafs as a whole — with the opening of the 2026-27 regular season on Tuesday.

The Montreal Canadiens, being discussed in some corners as a Stanley Cup contender advancing to the Eastern Conference final last spring, will be a speedy, determined group in the opener at Scotiabank Arena. The following night, defenceman Matthew Schaefer will look to start building off his Calder Trophy season when the New York Islanders visit.

What most impressed about McKenna in a pair of pre-season split-squad games was his poise. There was nothing that ruffled the Yukon native.

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His ability to make quick decisions was clear and his affinity for creating space not only for himself but linemates John Tavares and William Nylander was a revelation.

McKenna’s hockey brain will result in plays that leave fans gasping. He’s like Mitch Marner in that sense.

There will be bumps for McKenna as he makes the adjustment to day-to-day life in the NHL. That’s to be expected.

The preliminary indications are, though, the good with McKenna will far outweigh anything else in his rookie NHL season.

The feeling has been that McKenna is in a good spot in Toronto because he’s going to be sheltered with the Leafs in that captain Auston Matthews, Tavares and Nylander will help take some off the heat off the kid. We don’t think he’s going to require that protection.

What is Auston Matthews’ frame of mind?

Simply, this: Matthews is in a good spot, on and off the ice, as his 11th season with the Leafs gets underway.

There has been no indication that the knee injury that ended Matthews’ season last March has been a detriment.

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In fact, Matthews has been at the forefront as coach Jim Hiller gets the Leafs to play not only a faster game but one that features more work by the forwards on the backcheck and in the defensive zone.

Off the ice, Matthews has been in a lighter mood in his dealings with media and if the speculation early in the off-season that he was not sure about his future with the Leafs was a sore point, there has been no sign of that.

Matthews was on a 37-goal pace last season, scoring 27 goals in 60 games in what turned out to be Craig Berube’s second and final season running the Leafs bench.

Is another 60-goal season, which would be the third for Matthews in the NHL, among the possibilities? We’d settle on 50. That should be within reach for a refreshed Matthews.

WHAT WE’RE NOT YET SOLD ON

The defence corps as a whole.

Once we get past the shutdown pair of Chris Tanev and Jake McCabe, there’s the chance of adventure on the some nights.

The pairing of Morgan Rielly and Darren Raddysh doesn’t conjure an image of defensive consistency. A third pairing of Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Troy Stecher is destined to fill out the roster on opening night, while Emil Andrae and Nick Blankenburg (who has not yet signed after attending camp on a PTO, but is on the Arizona trip) wait in the wings.

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It’s a group that is old (minus the 24-year-old Andrae) and won’t be confused with the quickest defence corps in the NHL. It’s imperative that the forwards are more responsible in the defensive zone than they have been.

— Jack Roslovic on the first line and No. 1 power-play unit. Roslovic didn’t win the job on Matthews’ right; he was slotted there to start camp and, to his credit, managed to do enough to keep it.

The 29-year-old Roslovic is coming off a pair of 20-plus goal seasons with Edmonton and Carolina, but neither team felt the need to keep Roslovic before he signed a two-year pact with the Leafs in July.

Does Roslovic have the defensive chops to play with Matthews over the long haul and in best-on-best situations?

Toronto is Roslovic’s sixth NHL team since he was a first-round pick by Winnipeg in 2015. He has been around.

McKenna could eventually work his way to Matthews’ line, whether it’s at the expense of Roslovic or Matthew Knies. And we could see Nylander on the top line again at some point.

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— There’s no similar question, at least not from here, about the goaltending.

Sergei Bobrovsky’s desire is to prove that his poor 2025-26 season with the Florida Panthers was an aberration.

We didn’t see anything during the pre-season to suggest he’s going to struggle once we get to Tuesday and beyond. Time will tell, but the early signs are good.

THE FUTURE IS BRIGHTER

The Leafs’ prospect pool is deeper than it has been for a while.

Do we expect any one of Ben Danford, Tinus Luc Koblar, Alexander Bilecki, Miroslav Holinka or Artur Akhtyamov, among others, to emerge from the pack and become an NHL star?

No. Having said that, all have the potential to one day make an impact for the Leafs.

Read More

1. 

   Why the Maple Leafs are moving training camp to Arizona this week

2. 

   Why the Maple Leafs are placing forward Steven Lorentz on waivers

Gone are the recent days that you could pick through what the Leafs allegedly had coming and wonder whether any player could eventually make his way to permanent residency at Scotiabank Arena. That’s no longer the case.

Close to home, we’ll keeping an eye on the Midwest Division in the Ontario Hockey League, where Bilecki (Kitchener Rangers) and fellow Leafs prospects Harry Nansi (Owen Sound Attack) and Tyler Hopkins (Guelph Storm) will battle with each other.

“Once it’s time to play Guelph or Owen Sound, it will be all business,” Bilecki said. “But I can still learn from them, being a year older than me. 100%, it’s cool that one day we could be together here.”

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