Gavin McKenna’s first shift under new head coach Jim Hiller could look nothing like what a No. 1 pick usually gets on opening night.
Toronto hired Hiller on June 17. He inherits a Maple Leafs group that finished 32-36-14 last season, good for 28th overall. That is the backdrop McKenna steps into—not a contender flush with cap space ready to hand a teenager the top line.
Projected lines have the highly touted prospect slotting in on the left wing next to Colton Sissons and Easton Cowan, not William Nylander and Auston Matthews. The reaction has been swift and loud. Social media and talk radio lit up with claims that the Leafs are already mismanaging their newest franchise cornerstone. The word “disaster” has been thrown around freely.
Yet there is a clear template sitting right in front of Hiller. Ten years ago, Toronto did the exact same thing with another franchise cornerstone.
Auston Matthews opened his rookie season on the third line. Tyler Bozak and Nazem Kadri sat ahead of him in the lineup that night. Matthews responded with four goals in his debut, a mark that still stands as an NHL record for the Modern Era.
So why not run it back?
Sissons posted six goals and five assists for 11 points in 66 games last season and carries a $2,857,142 cap hit. He is a steady, low-event veteran—exactly the type of player you want babysitting a rookie. Cowan, still just 21, put up 11 goals and 18 assists for 29 points in 66 games on a modest $873,500 cap hit. Pairing two young players together sounds risky on paper. In reality, it is safer than what Matthews received. Nylander had only 22 NHL games under his belt at the time, fewer than Cowan has now, and Zach Hyman had just 16.
Burying McKenna on the third line to start is the right move, not a punishment. It is a seatbelt, not a benching.
Matthews remains the centerpiece up top. Coming off 27 goals and 26 assists for 53 points in 60 games last season and carrying a $13,250,000 cap hit, he does not need training wheels beside him. McKenna profiles as a playmaker more than a pure shooter, so nobody should expect four goals in his first game. That is not the point of the plan.
The point is giving an 18-year-old room to breathe before Toronto leans on him for real. Hiller’s opening-night lineup card will say a lot about how patient this new staff actually plans to be. In a market that demands instant results, choosing patience may look like controversy. History suggests it is simply good hockey sense.