Toronto has not even gotten Gavin McKenna in the building yet and already the club is doing the most important work it can do: preparing him for the weight of the place. That is the real story here. Not the hype. Not the draft drama. The quiet, practical business of making sure an 18-year-old does not get swallowed by one of hockey’s most demanding markets.
John Tavares made that point plainly on Wednesday at the NHL/NHLPA North American Player Media Tour in Las Vegas. He has been living with McKenna for the past three weeks, after McKenna joined the Tavares family at their lakeside summer home in the Muskokas last month, and he said the rookie will not be left to figure it out alone. Auston Matthews is part of that support group too, and that matters because this is not just about being friendly veterans. It is about the shared burden of being a first overall pick and understanding the strange, relentless pressure that comes with it.
A veteran hand for a very young player
Tavares has already seen enough to know the adjustment has to happen in stages. “I mean, he’s going to have to experience for himself to really know what it’s like, right,” he said, and that is exactly the point. Nobody can pre-script Toronto for McKenna. But they can make the landing softer.
That is where Matthews comes in. Tavares said he and Matthews will help set the example, noting that the parallels of being first overall picks give them a natural way into McKenna’s world. It is the kind of detail that sounds simple until you remember how often young stars are expected to absorb everything at once: the attention, the expectations, the noise, the nonsense. Toronto is not a market that does patience in small doses.
So the job here is not glamorous. It is better than glamorous. It is useful. Tavares said the idea is to show McKenna how they carry themselves and to share experiences when the time is right. That is the stuff that actually helps a young player survive a demanding year instead of merely survive the highlight reel.
Why Matthews matters in this story
Matthews is not just another name in a friendly mentorship plan. He is there because he knows the territory from the inside. Like Tavares, he was selected first overall. Unlike many other veterans, he can speak to what it means to arrive at the centre of the hockey world with the eyes of a franchise resting on your shoulders before you have even settled in.
And that gives this arrangement real value. Toronto is not simply hoping McKenna is talented enough to handle the spotlight. It is already building a framework around him so the spotlight does not become the whole story. Tavares said, “It’s amazing all the mentorship he’ll have from all of us to help him along.” That is not empty talk. It is the club’s most sensible idea in ages: protect the player, not just the asset.
There is also something fitting about the way Tavares described McKenna fitting seamlessly into family life. “My kids love him,” he said. “Every time we go out on the boat to do water sports or go fishing, they don’t want to go without him.” He added that McKenna is “great with them” and that, as a parent, he cannot say enough about how much he appreciates how amazing he is interacting with them. That kind of comfort is not trivial. It tells you the teenager is already learning how to belong before he has to learn how to perform.
In the end, the headlines will be about McKenna’s arrival and whatever burden comes with it. But the more interesting detail is this: Toronto appears to understand that the future is not just drafted. It is managed, mentored and, if the club is smart, made a little less brutal by people like John Tavares and Auston Matthews.
