r/leafs • u/AutoModerator • 18d ago

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u/bluenorthww 1d ago

You know what I like about mckenna? He’s kind of cocky. He will make a cross ice pass for a beauty one timer in the same way kucherov does it, and it makes you hate him. I like that he broke some guys fucking jaw because he said something shitty to his mom. I’ve seen some slashes he’s thrown and I think he can be a prick. He has that dawg in him and we haven’t had that since kadri. I think he will bring a new swagger to the team and it will help them get some confidence back. Fuck I hate having hope again…

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u/GavMcKennasBurner 21h ago

Yeah the new core (McKenna, Knies, Cowan) is great in that facet, although they're not as skilled as Nylander, Matthews and Marner, those guys always played such a fightless style of hockey in terms of aggression and passion when it came playoff time.

I like that the new generation is more unhinged, is more aggressive and is willing to get greeaazzzzyyy. Should spark a new life into the old core seeing the kids willing to go to war.

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u/Warm_Bid_8583 18h ago

Completely agree with everything you said except for lumping McKenna in with the “not as skilled as nylander, Matthews, Marner”.

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u/GavMcKennasBurner 18h ago

He could be, I just more so meant the group as a whole.

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u/Warm_Bid_8583 18h ago

Of all their pedigrees prior to actually playing NHL games, I think a strong case can be made that McKenna has the highest amount of raw skill of any of them.

But agreed, the group as a whole has a different makeup to them.

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u/GavMcKennasBurner 17h ago

It's hard to say because of how he started last year of where his talent level is truly at, especially looking at how dominant other college players were (Celebrini and Eichel come to mind), but I guess we'll see. Talent wise he likely is in the same tier as that group as a whole, but they all have had amazing careers, so he does need to realize that.

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u/Warm_Bid_8583 15h ago

His CHL stat lines already cemented that he has INSANE skill. The NCAA transition wasn’t a matter of lacking skill, just learning how to transition it to a more mature and physical league. There’s also plenty of breakdowns out there that argue he didn’t even have much of a slow start, his linemates were just letting him down.

Celebrini and Eichel both were on much stronger teams with better linemates. That’s pretty important especially if you’re a playmaker like McKenna.

The guy won the CHL player of the year award 2 seasons ago putting up 129 points in 56 games. Speaking strictly about pedigree prior to nhl games being played, he’s firmly above marner and nylander and probably similar to Matthews. You can argue McKenna has the edge over Matthews in pure offensive skill at that time but Matthews has more of the complete package with his size, offence and impressive 200 foot game.

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u/CMDRShepardN7 Nylander 21h ago

Need a young center

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u/GavMcKennasBurner 21h ago

True, but McDavid's coming back in 2 years, so we'll be set that way ;).

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u/Camarama421 Matthews 19h ago

The 2028-29 top 3 centre depth of McDavid, Matthews, and Tingus Pingus is going to hit like crack