Maple Leafs News & Rumours: McKenna Belongs & Knies Has Something to Prove

The second day of training camp makes it a little easier to separate the noise from the interesting stuff. The sweaters are still clean, nobody has played a meaningful game, and coaches are still moving players around like pieces on a chessboard. But every once in a while, you see something that makes you stop and think the season will be interesting.

That is where the Toronto Maple Leafs are right now. Gavin McKenna isn’t acting like a kid who wandered into the room hoping not to get noticed. Matthew Knies, after a summer of trade talk and questions about his future, has arrived looking healthy and rather determined to show the organization exactly what it has in him. Those are two very different stories, but they tell us something about where this team is headed.

McKenna Doesn’t Look Like a Kid Waiting His Turn

The most interesting thing about Gavin McKenna so far might not be his skill. We already knew he could play. What stands out is that he doesn’t seem particularly interested in acting like the youngest guy in the room.

Head coach Jim Hiller has noticed it. Auston Matthews has noticed it. Neither described McKenna as a player waiting politely for somebody to tell him when it’s his turn. Hiller’s description was actually pretty revealing. McKenna is confident without being cocky, and once the puck is on his stick, he seems to understand that he belongs there. He’s not trying to force the game, either. As Hiller put it, he isn’t selfish. He simply makes the right play when the play needs to be made.

That’s a pretty good starting point for an 18-year-old walking into the Maple Leafs. He is playing with John Tavares and William Nylander, and early reports say the three are already finding each other. Hiller says both veterans have been impressed with how many pucks McKenna has found them. That’s the part I like. The youngster isn’t simply surviving beside two established stars. He’s contributing to the line’s identity.

Matthews was even more direct when asked whether this could eventually become McKenna’s team. “Absolutely,” he said. That’s quite a welcome from the captain.

Knies Looks Ready to Turn the Page

Matthew Knies has a different story to tell, and perhaps a more important one for the Maple Leafs right now. Last season he played through a knee problem, still scored 23 goals and added 43 assists in 79 games, and then spent part of the summer hearing his name tossed around in trade speculation. Now he’s showing up to camp saying the knee is 100 percent and there are no issues.

The interesting part isn’t just that Knies says he’s healthy. It’s the way he is talking about everything else. He doesn’t sound like somebody keeping score on his own behalf. When asked about the trade chatter, he pointed back to his conversation with general manager John Chayka and the message that the organization considers him a valuable piece. His response was basically to go out and prove it.

That is a pretty mature way of handling a noisy summer. Knies isn’t talking about how many points he wants to get or trying to win an argument with the people who wondered whether Toronto might move him. He keeps coming back to the team. If the team is doing well, he says, then he’s doing well.

Matthews called Knies “dominant” and believes there is still another level in his game. Hiller, as coaches tend to do, is taking the slower approach. Play the game, watch the video, then evaluate. No need to hand out trophies in September.

What’s Next for the Maple Leafs?

That’s really the fun part of these first few days. McKenna is giving the team something it hasn’t had in a while: an 18-year-old with enough confidence and ability to walk into the room and immediately make people wonder how high his ceiling might be.

Knies, meanwhile, is trying to turn a noisy offseason into something useful. He’s healthy, he’s playing alongside Matthews and Jack Roslovic, and he seems to understand that being considered an important part of the Maple Leafs isn’t something you are simply handed. You earn it every day.

What Hiller seems to be looking for is a group that can skate, think, compete without the puck and then use its skill when the opportunity arrives. McKenna and Knies are two very different pieces of that puzzle, but both are giving the coach something to think about.