Toronto Maple Leafs first overall pick Gavin McKenna will live with veteran John Tavares during his rookie NHL campaign.
"You want him to go out and enjoy all the great things about being a Maple Leaf, and living his dream, playing in the NHL, and the opportunity to play for an unbelievable fan base that's going to love him and support him," Tavares said Tuesday at the NHL/NHLPA player media tour, according to The Athletic's Mark Lazerus. "And when it does feel heavy at times, or when it is a lot, going through it for the first time, he has that ability to just be in a family environment."
Tavares was the first overall pick of the New York Islanders in 2009. The now-35-year-old has a wife and three kids and has taken in other rookies in recent years, including Matthew Knies. Tavares captained the Maple Leafs from 2019-24, after which Toronto gave the "C" to Auston Matthews.
After putting together a prolific WHL career with the Medicine Hat Tigers, McKenna recorded 15 goals and 51 points across 35 games last year in his freshman season at Penn State. The Whitehorse, Yukon, native also starred for Canada at the world juniors, where he had 14 points in seven contests en route to a bronze medal.
"It's definitely different than what I had experienced," Tavares acknowledged as McKenna enters the league 17 years after he did. "That's why even more I felt like offering up the opportunity if it made sense for him and the organization. Just being able to come home and disconnect from it all. The attention can be a lot at times, especially just being 18 years old and from a small town in a more remote place out in the Yukon. That can be really positive for him."
Toronto won the draft lottery despite having only the fifth-best chance to land the first overall pick and the right to select McKenna.
"He doesn't have to come in and look to change or do a number of different things," Tavares said. "I think just come in and try to soak it in. You're a rookie once in the NHL and have this amazing opportunity to just enjoy it, be driven, compete your ass off, and have fun with it.
"You're going to have a tremendous amount of resources, influences, mentors, people in the organization (and) on the team that are going to do everything they can to help you along the way. There's going to be ups and downs, but that's part of the journey, part of the learning. You get to live your dream. You've been thinking about this for as long as you can remember. You've really got to enjoy it and have fun with it. I'm excited to be there along with him as a teammate."
Tavares tallied 31 goals and 71 points in all 82 games last season.
