Gavin McKenna is on the verge of making his highly anticipated NHL debut.
It will arrive Tuesday night for the Toronto Maple Leafs, a moment that some hockey fans have anticipated for years.
Few would’ve expected it to come for the Leafs, whose shockingly bad 2025-26 season and impressive draft lottery luck got them the No. 1 pick to snag McKenna.
But that almost adds to the grandeur of it all. Instead of McKenna debuting in a smaller market somewhere, he’s on the big stage immediately under the bright lights that always follow around the Maple Leafs.
Toronto is home on Tuesday night, the first day of the NHL regular season. The Maple Leafs are hosting the Montreal Canadiens at 7 p.m. ET.
That’s about the time McKenna will get onto the ice for the first time in the Toronto lineup.
Gavin McKenna Line
The Maple Leafs’ lines at Monday’s practice don’t guarantee that’s how they’ll line up in Tuesday’s season opener, but they’re a pretty good hint.
And based on that, McKenna is looking at a spot on the second line for Toronto.
If the lines hold, he’d be on one of the wings as John Tavares centers the second line. And as the Leafs had it on Monday, William Nylander is on the other wing.
Given the veteran presence of Tavares and the high-scoring ability of Nylander, this would be about as exciting a line as McKenna could have if he wasn’t going to be on the first line centered by captain Auston Matthews.
Maple Leafs Lines
That first line with Matthews also included Matthew Knies and Jack Roslovic on the wings. It wasn’t a guarantee when Roslovic signed that he’d get that gig on the top line, but he’s being given a chance to take that role.
The Maple Leafs’ practice lines have another promising youngster, Easton Cowan, on a wing on the third line. He was joined Monday by Nicholas Paul and Colton Sissons.
The fourth line as it was currently constructed would be centered by another new guy, Teddy Blueger, and flanked by Brendan Duhaime and Zack MacEwan.
The Maple Leafs didn’t currently have Dakota Joshua on a line as he has battled an injury in the preseason.
Lines at Leafs practice
Knies – Matthews – Roslovic
McKenna – Tavares – Nylander
Cowan – Paul – Sissons
Duhaime – Blueger – MacEwen
Joshua, GroulxMcCabe – Tanev
Rielly – Raddysh
Ekman-Larsson – Stecher
Andrae – BlankenburgBobrovsky
Stolarz @TSN_Sports pic.twitter.com/OqwUzzOwi5— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) September 28, 2026
There’s plenty of time for things to change, and it’s a long season, and lines don’t always order themselves exactly the way they look on paper, anyway.
But the idea that McKenna could open the season on a line with Tavares and Nylander is quite a thrilling possibility for the Maple Leafs, and it looks like they’ll get a chance on Tuesday night to show their chemistry while McKenna tries to make an impressive first impression in his NHL debut.
Maple Leafs’ Gavin McKenna Line Revealed for Season Opener