- Gavin McKenna spent his first pro offseason training in Vancouver with Macklin Celebrini
- One week on the ice hit 17 hours, and the Leafs rookie says his trainers will not love hearing it
- Read below for McKenna on Celebrini, dinner with Bedard and his first Maple Leafs camp
Gavin McKenna spent his first pro summer chasing Macklin Celebrini around a Vancouver rink, and he came home with a number his trainers are not going to enjoy.
The Maple Leafs rookie was asked at the NHLPA Rookie Showcase in Chicago on Wednesday how he built his offseason. McKenna told David Alter of The Hockey News that the skates with Celebrini ran a lot longer than anyone planned.
“My trainers probably won’t like to hear this, but there was a week where we were on the ice for like 17 hours. Mac is crazy. But every skate out there, you’re getting better and it’s a competitive group, so I had a lot of fun with it.”
McKenna, the first overall pick in June, went to Vancouver to work with the guy who went first overall two drafts earlier. He explained what stood out about Celebrini once the two of them started sharing a routine.
“I was training with Mac and doing what he was doing, and he was a pretty intense guy when it comes to his off-ice and on-ice stuff. So to kind of be in that environment and just get in a routine, it felt good. I had a lot of fun, and I feel like I got better.”
The league noticed the pairing when photos of the two of them in matching practice sweaters made the rounds earlier this month:
Away from the rink, they left the sport alone.
“I think we just try to be normal people with each other. Sometimes, when you’re grinding and stuff, you kind of want to step away from the game and just be normal people and just talk. He was awesome to be around. I think I learned a lot from how hard he works and to where I kind of got to get.”
Connor Bedard was supposed to be part of the group too. McKenna got a dinner in with him before Bedard’s injury and said he was looking forward to skating with him.
Celebrini picked a good week to make an impression. He signed a five-year extension with San Jose on Wednesday worth $94 million, an $18.8 million cap hit that makes him the highest-paid player in the NHL. Bedard, his North Vancouver buddy, is on a five-year deal of his own:
Toronto is the next adjustment. McKenna handed his junior number 72 to newly signed goalie Sergei Bobrovsky and switched to 92, he is in the team group chats, and captain Auston Matthews has already walked him through what the market does to young players. Whether he suits up at the rookie tournament in Gatineau in September is still up in the air.
Take a look at the Leafs’ own film on how the 18-year-old from Whitehorse got here:
Nobody has handed him a spot next to Matthews or William Nylander yet, and McKenna is not asking for one.
“Honestly, being a young guy, I’m going to have to earn my spot and I’m going to have to earn my play time and work my way up the lineup sheet. So whoever I’m playing with, I’m lucky.”
Seventeen hours of ice in a week is a decent head start on the earning part.
