The Toronto Maple Leafs have injected new life into their organization this summer. Within days of John Chayka and Mats Sundin taking roles in the front office, they won the draft lottery, which allowed them the right to select Gavin McKenna first overall. They then followed it by executing a flurry of moves including a sign-and-trade for Darren Raddysh and six signings on the first day of free agency.

Speaking with reporters during Day 1 of development camp, McKenna spoke about how he was feeling seeing all of the signings the Leafs made the day before.

“Super excited. I think you can tell the mindset Chayka and the staff’s got. They want to make a statement next year. For me to come in as the first overall pick, to be in that environment to have these veteran guys around me, kind of not have to be that driver and learn from those guys, I’m very lucky and fortunate and I can’t wait to get going and meet all these new guys.”

McKenna has wasted no time getting acclimated to the Toronto market. Already one of the most popular names around the Maple Leafs right now, he’s been spending time in the city and spoke about how fans would stop him in the street and ask for pictures. The day after he was drafted, he threw out the first pitch at the Toronto Blue Jays game. His throw went slightly wide. Well, maybe more than slightly.

“I was getting told that it’s a lot farther than it looks so I didn’t to come up short, and I don’t know, it was not good.” McKenna laughed.

He was then asked if he’s taken any chirps from people about his throw.

“A couple, a couple.”

The Maple Leafs will continue with development camp through Saturday before everybody returns home for summer training. Training camp will come in the September, followed by a shorter-than-usual preseason and sooner-than-usual regular season start date. Lots has been made about the pressure of playing in Toronto, and while the spotlight will certainly be brighter than usual on McKenna, as the first overall pick, he’s made it clear that he thrives off of the pressure that comes with playing in a market like Toronto.

“For me, it was honestly using it as fuel. Some of the critiques, they weren’t wrong. Some of the stuff they said, I knew I had to work on. Honestly, all year I’ve seen stuff and it just helps be grow as a person and a player. When I hear that stuff it fires me up, and with my work ethic off the ice, it helps me.”