Gavin McKenna faces an unexpected Maple Leafs obstacle

The pressure on the first overall pick is real, but it is being measured against the wrong thing.

It is not the market, it is the calendar.

Toronto plays four exhibition games under the new collective bargaining agreement, down from six last September.

All four are split-squad doubleheaders, two against the Montreal Canadiens on September 19 and two against the Ottawa Senators on September 23.

Split-squad means McKenna can only dress for one game on each date. That leaves head coach Jim Hiller two live looks at his best prospect before the September 29 opener.

The new agreement also caps any player with 100 or more NHL games at two exhibition appearances. Chemistry with captain Auston Matthews has to be scheduled rather than discovered.

Camp itself is shorter, with players who appeared in 50 or more games last season limited to 13 practice days. The runway for building a first line is not what it was last fall.

The comparisons stacked around McKenna all come from 82-game seasons. His comes with 84, the longest NHL schedule since 1993-94.

The last time rookies were handed 84 games, Teemu Selanne scored 76 goals and 132 points for the Winnipeg Jets. Nobody is touching that, but the denominator has quietly moved for everyone chasing lesser marks.

General manager John Chayka signed him to the maximum entry-level contract, three years at a $1.075 million cap hit with up to $3.5 million in annual performance bonuses.

Those bonus triggers count games too, and there are now two more of them.

So the realistic expectation is not a point total.

It is whether two September evenings are enough runway for an 18-year-old, and this season every rookie in the league is answering that same question.

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