Gavin McKenna's junior coach said he refused to accept being average and that one quote tells you everything
Photo credit: Barry Reeger-Imagn Images
Gavin McKenna is anything but your ordinary prospect and he seemingly understands his value considering he refuses anything except the best.
There's a lot you can say about Gavin McKenna but more often that not you're going to find yourself thinking that he's one of the most exciting prospects in quite some time. A generational talent, he's expected to make whoever drafts him instantly better while also giving them a marketable face for the next decade.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are the team who get the first crack at McKenna and barring any wild changes, it's likely he's going to go there. It's a great consolation prize for the team who had so many questions about their future answered with one simple luck of the draw.
But what exactly are they going to get with McKenna? Well, besides an incredible offensive talent you're also looking at someone who is willing to go that extra mile and stick up for his teammates - something Auston Matthews dreams of.
Desjardins coached McKenna for two seasons in Medicine Hat and watched him refuse to accept anything less than dominance
It's not just his on-ice prowess that drew a lot of praise because it seems like he's constantly motivating himself to be the best.
If you were to talk to McKenna's former head coach in Medicine Hat, Willie Desjardins, he could tell you that besides his innate ability to score and elevate his teammates, he refuses to take anything less than average:
When he was 16 he came back at Christmas, he was third in rookie scoring. The guys ahead of him weren't important so they're 18, sometimes older. He came back, his point-per-game was 1.3; [he said] that wasn't good enough, I need to be better...
After practice one day he stayed on the ice and skated himself; not just himself. But hard and for the entire month of January he averaged 2.3 points a game - maybe higher. Somewhere over Christmas he decided it wasn't good enough. 'I can't live with that, I need to be better.'
After practice one day he stayed on the ice and skated himself; not just himself. But hard and for the entire month of January he averaged 2.3 points a game - maybe higher. Somewhere over Christmas he decided it wasn't good enough. 'I can't live with that, I need to be better.'
McKenna had 30 points for the month of January during the 2023-24 season (the one Desjardins referred to) and took his total from 34 points to 64 in a flash.
McKenna's refusal to be average is exactly the culture standard the Maple Leafs locker room has been missing
It's an incredible amount of maturity and internal reflection for McKenna as a 16-year old to realize that although he has all this hype - it was through hard work. He can't just coast off his past success and every game is a chance to learn.
You want that from your 26-year old stars, so getting it from someone who is still a teenager is mind-blowing. If he is a very coachable player (and all signs point to yes) then it could lead to him becoming one of the best overall players...possibly ever.
Someone who takes nothing less than elite performance from both himself and teammates, McKenna will no doubt make sure that if those aren't elevating their game to match are going to hear about it.
When you have this immense amount of talent - and I'm talking Matthews, Nylander, Knies, Tavares, Cowan, etc. - you have to be playing at an elite level because anything less is inexcusable.
Perhaps bringing in McKenna is going to be the antidote for the Maple Leafs' inability to push themselves to that next level.
If a 16-year old kid can do it, why can't they?
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