Gavin McKenna Ice Time: Chayka Backed Hiller, Now Give Him More

Gavin McKenna ice time is the wrong thing to ration

John Chayka said in Calgary on Oct. 26 that Jim Hiller handled Gavin McKenna's benching properly. Fine. The GM backing his coach in public is the job, and the Oct. 15 benching is old news. The live issue is Gavin McKenna ice time right now: the 18-year-old first overall pick has eight points in 14 games while averaging 13:39 a night, and in the four games before Calgary he played just 11:40 per game and still produced three points. With Kirill Marchenko hurt and John Tavares out, Hiller has no good reason left to keep him on a third line.

LeafsLurker's take: move McKenna into Marchenko's spot on the second line with Nick Paul and William Nylander, starting in Seattle, and push his minutes to 15 or more. The development case and the win-now case point the same way.

What Chayka said, and what he did not

The Hockey News reported that Chayka, asked about the handling of McKenna, said he believed Hiller managed it properly rather than second-guessing the coach. The context is the 5-4 overtime loss to Buffalo on Oct. 15, when McKenna sat for half of the second period, all of the third and overtime, and finished with a career-low 6:36. We argued at the time that the benching was Hiller's mistake, and the response to it from fans and media was loud.

What Chayka did not say is that McKenna's current usage is the plan for the season. Nobody in the organization has suggested he is not ready for more. The GM praised him and backed the coach on a single decision. That leaves room for Hiller to adjust, and the injury list is giving him the perfect cover to do it.

The numbers say he has earned more

McKenna's production is better than his deployment. Through 14 games, here is how his season has broken down by the figures reported this week:

Eight points in roughly 190 minutes of total ice time works out to about 2.5 points per 60 minutes in all situations. That is a rough figure, but it puts an 18-year-old's scoring rate in the range of established top-six wingers. Scoring that efficiently on limited minutes is exactly what tells you a player can handle more.

He has also delivered in the moments that matter. His power-play goal was the winner against San Jose on Oct. 19, ending a three-game skid, as we covered in our Sharks recap. He was held off the scoresheet in the 5-2 loss in Calgary on Oct. 26, a night when Toronto managed only two goals.

The Marchenko injury opens the door

Marchenko left the Calgary game early in the second period after going into the boards on a hit from Yegor Sharangovich. As of Tuesday, the Leafs had not announced a diagnosis. He had six goals and 14 points in 14 games, and he was playing on the second line with Paul and Nylander.

Somebody has to take that spot. The options are a veteran depth forward who has spent the season in the bottom six, or the most skilled young winger in the organization. That is not a hard call. McKenna is a left shot with the vision to make plays at speed, and Nylander is a puck-carrier who needs a linemate who can read off him. Putting a playmaker on Nylander's line makes more sense than asking a grinder to keep up.

Our Marchenko injury breakdown looked at several ways Hiller could rebuild the forward group. McKenna moving up is the one with the highest ceiling.

How the top nine should look in Seattle

Here is the forward setup LeafsLurker would use while Marchenko and Tavares are out. The top line is the one Hiller has been using with Easton Cowan alongside Auston Matthews. The change is on the second line, where McKenna replaces Marchenko:

The trade-off is obvious: the third line gets thinner. But the third line was never going to be a scoring line without Tavares, and the Leafs' penalty kill, one of the best in the league this season, has been built on depth forwards who are still in the lineup. Toronto loses very little by moving McKenna up and gains a second line that can actually create offence.

The case against, and why it does not hold

The argument for patience is defensive. Hiller's third-line deployment gives McKenna softer matchups, and the coaching staff has clearly wanted him to earn trust without the puck. That is a reasonable approach for an 18-year-old in October. It is also how the Leafs ended up with a stretch where he was barely playing.

The answer is to protect him through deployment, not minutes. Start him in the offensive zone more often. Keep him away from the opposition's top line when possible. Pair him with Paul, a responsible two-way centre who can cover for mistakes. That is how good coaches bring along elite rookies: they give them the ice time and manage the context.

There is also a team-building argument. Toronto's 2026-27 cap is tight, and Chayka has said he is open to another big trade for a defenceman. A team shopping for upgrades needs to know what it has in its top-six forwards. Easton Cowan has already answered that question with six goals and 13 points in 14 games on Matthews' line. McKenna deserves the same chance to answer it.

Power-play usage matters too

McKenna's power-play role has moved with the lineup. When Tavares returned from an earlier absence in mid-October, Hiller moved him back to the first unit and McKenna to the second, telling reporters at the time it was "a pretty easy decision." That made sense with a healthy Tavares. With Tavares and Marchenko both out, McKenna should be on the top unit every night. We made the full case in our piece on McKenna and PP1.

The power play has been one of Toronto's strengths, ranking among the NHL's top five heading into the Seattle game. That makes it the safest place to give a rookie more ice time. It is skill time, not survival time.

What's next

The Leafs play the Kraken in Seattle on Oct. 28 and finish the trip in Vancouver on Oct. 31. Watch McKenna's ice time in both games. If it climbs past 15 minutes and he is skating with Paul and Nylander, Hiller has read the situation correctly. If he is still on the third line with 11 minutes while a depth forward fills the top six, the Leafs are wasting the best development window they will get this season.

For McKenna's full profile and season stats, see our Leafs player pages. Chayka backed his coach in Calgary. Now the coach should back his rookie.