Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images
Maple Leafs goalie Sergei Bobrovsky and forward Gavin McKenna
On Tuesday, the Maple Leafs kicked off their season with a contest that also marked the NHL debut of Gavin McKenna. The top overall pick in this year’s draft got to experience a time-honored rookie tradition ahead of his first game, but the team’s new goaltender, Sergei Bobrovsky, ruffled plenty of feathers with a superstitious move he pulled during the proceedings.
The 2025-26 NHL season did not pan out as the Maple Leafs hoped it would, as the team finished in the basement of the Atlantic Division with a 32-36-14 record while missing the playoffs for the first time in a decade.
However, Toronto was ultimately rewarded for its lackluster showing by securing the top pick in the 2026 NHL Draft (despite having the fifth-best odds), and they used it to scoop up Gavin McKenna, the forward who cemented his status as the presumptive No. 1 selection during his lone season at Penn State.
McKenna made his NHL debut when the Maple Leafs kicked off their season against the Canadiens on Tuesday night, but another new arrival managed to rile up hockey fans over his decision to insert himself into a pregame moment where McKenna was supposed to have the spotlight.
Sergei Bobrovsky divided NHL fans by taking the ice before Gavin McKenna skated his rookie lap in his NHL debut
If you tune into an NHL game, you’ll typically see teams stream out of the locker room to take the ice for a pregame warm-up. However, there’s a twist in showdowns where a player his making his NHL debut, as they’ll typically get to spend some time alone on the ice while taking part in what is commonly referred to as a “rookie lap.”
It’s not entirely clear when that became a tradition, but it’s a pretty cool moment that allows the skater in question to be the center of attention while announcing their grand arrival and soaking in the fact that they finally made it to the league they dreamed about playing in when they were a kid.
McKenna got the chance to do exactly that before facing off against Montreal, but there was a bit of a wrinkle to the traditional formula. Sergei Bobrovsky, who signed with the Maple Leafs in the offseason after spending the last seven years with the Panthers, was the first person to step onto the rink before McKenna kicked off his rookie lap.
Sergei Bobrovsky leads Gavin McKenna out for rookie lap @BarDown pic.twitter.com/glmDdsM63V
— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) September 29, 2026
Most hockey fans are aware that goalies have a reputation for being a different breed while adhering to superstitions and routines they rely on to get into the zone, and it sure seemed like Bobrovsky was unwilling to abandon his tradition of being the first guy to take to the rink.
He may have immediately skated to the bench while giving McKenna his moment in the spotlight, but many people who watched the clip took issue with his unwillingness to switch things up for a single night, especially when you consider he didn’t seem to have an issue doing so when Cole Schwindt made his debut with the Panthers in 2021.
🚨 @c_schwinny10 ROOKIE LAP ALERT 🚨 pic.twitter.com/GARFi7J7B3
— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) December 16, 2021
Some fans also noted this wasn’t the first time McKenna had been upstaged by Bobrovsky, as the former had to switch his number from 72 to 92 after the goalie arrived in Toronto. However, it’s worth noting the rookie seemed to be proactive in his decision to follow tradition by deferring to an established veteran.
If this did boil down to superstition, it did not ultimately pay off, as the Maple Leafs started at 0-1 with a 3-2 loss on home ice as Bobrovsky finished with a .875 save percentage.