Scotty Bowman on Gavin McKenna and Teaching Young Players to Defend

Toronto Maple Leafs coach Jim Hiller’s benching of Gavin McKenna against Buffalo came up during Scotty Bowman’s October 19 appearance on 100% Hockey With Millard & Shannon.

McKenna played 6:36 over nine shifts in Toronto’s 5-4 overtime loss to Buffalo on October 15. The host asked Bowman what he made of the explanation that Hiller had lost track of the rookie on the bench.

“I didn’t even know the reason,” Bowman said. He raised the possibility of a difficult night for the rookie, without claiming to know why Hiller had stopped using him.

“As long as he explained it to him, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it,” he said.

What stood out to me was a coaching gem from Bowman: use the penalty kill to get a young forward thinking defensively. Even 20 or 30 seconds can put him in that frame of mind.

Bowman credited Mike Babcock’s use of Mitch Marner on Toronto’s penalty kill with helping Marner become a better two-way player. He also cited Joel Quenneville’s use of Jonathan Toews, while noting that Toews arrived in the NHL with that reputation.

“You don’t have to start the penalty,” Bowman said. A young forward could begin with “some penalty-killing situations, maybe at the end of a penalty with 20, 30 seconds.”

“The best way to teach a player to play defense is … if you can afford it … to have them kill some penalties just a little bit … because then you’re … putting them in a defensive mold for sure,” Bowman said.

McKenna had three goals and three assists through Toronto’s October 19 game, his 10th NHL appearance.

It was good to hear Bowman talking about today’s game. He is a true hockey historian, and his recollections of Toe Blake were another highlight of the interview. We wrote about those in our story on Blake’s eight Stanley Cups and Bowman’s Montreal education.

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