- Gavin McKenna played 19:13 with three shots and no points in his NHL preseason debut
- Montreal beat Toronto 4-1 at Scotiabank Arena behind a two-goal night from Phillip Danault
- Read below for why Jim Hiller kept the No. 1 pick off the top power-play unit
Gavin McKenna got nearly 20 minutes in his first NHL game, and the Maple Leafs still got run out of their own building.
The No. 1 pick in the 2026 draft made his preseason debut Saturday at Scotiabank Arena and finished with three shots on goal, a minus-1 and no points in a 4-1 loss to the Canadiens. His 19:13 of ice time ranked fifth among Toronto forwards.
Watch the 18-year-old’s first NHL shift:
McKenna lined up on the left side with John Tavares and William Nylander, the trio he had skated with every day since camp opened Thursday. On the power play he drew the second unit with Andrae, Knies, Groulx and Koblar.
Jim Hiller was asked before puck drop why a passer like McKenna wasn’t handed PP1 minutes right away.
“I just think, probably for him and us, just get out there and play. We don’t want to put extra pressure on him. If you asked him, he would probably say, ‘I want to play 22 minutes. I want the first power play.’ That is exactly what he should say.”
The Toronto coach said the role grows once he sees what the kid looks like in real games, and that the Leafs have enough established offensive players that McKenna doesn’t need to carry a unit in September.
Phillip Danault did the damage for Montreal with two goals, the first of them 51 seconds into the second period. Darren Raddysh answered on the power play off feeds from Auston Matthews and Tavares, then Maksymilian Szuber put the Canadiens back in front in the third and Samuel Poulin closed it out.
Sergei Bobrovsky also made his Maple Leafs debut, stopping four of five shots over 22:23 before Anthony Stolarz took the rest.
Hiller said all week that the one thing he wanted to see was skating. Matthews gave him that, hitting 35 km/h in a preseason game after reaching that number twice all of last season.
It was a rough night on both ends of the split squad. Toronto’s other group lost 4-3 in Montreal on a Cole Caufield overtime winner. The Leafs are next on the ice Wednesday.
