Vegas Golden Knights star Mitch Marner has been handed a dig during a conversation that revolved around the Toronto Maple Leafs and their prospect Gavin McKenna.
McKenna, 18, was selected No. 1 overall in the 2026 NHL Draft, and since then speculation has focused on the role he will take on next season.
During a conversation on Friday on TSN’s Overdrive, Brian Hayes made a small joke about Marner while they were talking about McKenna not participating in the Prospect Challenge.
For context, the Prospect Challenge is a rookie camp that includes training sessions and two games this past week, and it was decided that the prospect would not participate.
During the debate Hayes, Jeff O’Neill, and Jamie McLennan had, they discussed whether it was too much pampering to give McKenna permission not to participate, and Hayes ironically said Marner would have been upset if he had known McKenna skipped the camp.
“Well, that’s obviously what they’re doing here. Like, you know, it’s a rite of passage. You play at the rookie thing. You know, I don’t remember if (Auston) Matthews did. I know (Mitch) Marner did, and (William) Nylander did. You know, Marner might actually be pissed off if he found out that McKenna got to skip this.”
And to understand this, it is necessary to remember the context between Marner’s camp and the Toronto media. It was never a secret that the relationship between the player’s camp and the Canadian media was negative, and some even considered it toxic.
It’s curious to see how some media personalities, such as those at TSN, reference Marner as being salty over perceived slights. In the end, Hayes is making a joke, and it is not a big deal, but it shows how they perceive Marner.
Gavin McKenna Could Take On Mitch Marner-Like Role With Maple Leafs
Among the other topics they discussed in that same edition of TSN’s Overdrive, they talked about how McKenna could take on a role similar to Marner’s in media terms.
As an example, they brought up the recent training sessions during the Prospect Challenge camp and how the media focused almost exclusively on recording McKenna because he was a “big fish in a small pond.”
Those are the types of situations that will probably await the 18-year-old forward in Toronto next season, with cameras on him, expectations running high, and, very likely, the media also expecting both him and Matthews to carry the team on their shoulders. 25-minute interviews, questions about the analysis of a teammate’s game, among other things.
Mitch Marner Takes Dig During Maple Leafs, Gavin McKenna Talk