Gavin McKenna and Ivar Stenberg are living up to early career expectations

Oct 20, 2026, 11:30 EDT

Gavin McKenna and Ivar Stenberg are living up to early career expectations

It didn’t take long for the top two picks of the 2026 NHL Entry Draft to meet on the ice.

As the San Jose Sharks travelled to The Six to take on the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday, the focal point going into the game is the matchup between the first- and second-overall picks at the 2026 Draft: Gavin McKenna and Ivar Stenberg. It’s an often overblown narrative, as the stakes are as high as a blade of grass and sometimes neither rookie contributes in that game. But, hey: narratives are fun.

This was the first time the two teams met in a truly competitive scenario. The played each other in a pre-tournament game before the 2026 World Juniors, but that’s really it. McKenna struggled that night, while Stenberg scored the game-winning goal.

But now that both are established in the NHL, it’s going to be hard for them to avoid one another, even if they’re set to play in separate conferences for the foreseeable future. It’s fitting that this matchup came around the nine-game mark for both players, as that is a specific milestone for teenage rookies: it’s when their entry-level contracts can no longer slide. While McKenna and Stenberg’s NHL statuses were never in doubt, it’s still a nice box to check off to officially cement them as NHLers.

But neither player needed a contractual technicality to prove that, as they’ve already done more than enough on the ice so far. Both players wound up in similar situations: drafted by teams loaded with talent that won the lottery, resulting in a higher-than-expected pick. However, that’s where the similarities end. McKenna finds himself with established NHLers like Auston Matthews, William Nylander, John Tavares and fellow newcomer Kirill Marchenko, while Stenberg is with talent around his age like Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith, Michael Misa and Sam Dickinson.

For McKenna, his start has involved highs and lows. He was quiet for his first three games, but finally got the monkey off his back with a goal and an assist in his fourth game against the Nashville Predators. That kicked off a four-game point streak, and he already looked comfortable. His intelligence and creativity are already apparent, giving the Leafs another scoring threat along with Matthews, Nylander, Tavares and Marchenko. McKenna has particularly impacted the power play, where he’s either rejuvenated an inconsistent first unit or elevated the second unit to be an equal threat.

“The talent is obvious, but his personality, just the way he carries himself, his quiet confidence [has impressed me],” Leafs head coach Jim Hiller said ahead of the game. “He’s unflappable, maybe that’s a word I would use with him. Just a really great kid who’s got on a trajectory and is going to have a phenomenal career.”

However, the lows appeared in the eighth game when McKenna spent the majority of last week’s 5-4 overtime loss to the Buffalo Sabres on the bench. Whether we take Hiller’s words that it was just poor bench management at face value, or if that was a result of McKenna’s lacking defensive game (his +0.79 5v5 expected goals against per 60 minutes relative to his teammates is the 17th-worst among forwards with 100 minutes this young season), it isn’t a total surprise considering his flaws entering the draft. But even then, it hasn’t phased McKenna: he earned a new high in ice time in the following game against the New York Islanders, and a power-play and game-winning goal on Monday against the Sharks.

As for Stenberg, he’s been a bit more consistent. He was also held off the score sheet in his NHL debut, but then got his first assist in his second game. After that, he’s alternated between games without points and games with points, including his first career goal in his sixth game. Quietly, Stenberg has crept into a tie with McKenna for second in rookie scoring (along with three others).

“He’s been really good,” Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “The game’s slowed down for him. He’s confident. He’s picking up things really quickly.”

Unlike McKenna, Stenberg has already seen his defensive game take form. At the very least, he is closer to the middle among forwards with 100 minutes of ice time in 5v5 XGA/60 Rel with 0.12. Of 200 forwards, he ranks 120th. Expectations were a bit higher for the two-way forward, but even some of the league’s top defensive players were defensive liabilities in their rookie seasons.

Unsurprisingly, McKenna and Stenberg have lived up to expectations set at the draft. McKenna was expected to struggle adjusting to the NHL (though he has adjusted much quicker than anticipated) but showcase the skillset and intelligence that earned him the first-overall selection. Stenberg, meanwhile, was expected to have the more NHL-ready game, and that’s more or less how their first several games have played out.

And despite the backdrop of a narrative-driven “rivalry” based on draft position, both players had high praise for each other.

“He’s a confident player and he’s not afraid to make plays,” McKenna said. “Just a super calm player and [doesn’t] really seem to make too many mistakes.”

That said, Stenberg’s praise was more blunt and concise.

“I haven’t watched anything, so I don’t know,” Stenberg said. “But [at] World Juniors, [he was] super good. Only good stuff about him.”

It was only fitting that the first showdown between the top-two picks also met expectations — namely, the expectation that it wouldn’t be all that relevant to the game. Yes, McKenna won the day with his game-winning goal, and Stenberg had a night to forget with a team-worst 22.74% 5v5 xGF%. But the bigger focus was both teams trading (and missing) chances in an exciting match, and Sergei Bobrovsky and Yaroslav Askarov playing exceptionally well to keep it a one-goal game for 59 minutes.

“I don’t really go out there thinking it’s McKenna versus Stenberg, it’s Leafs versus the Sharks,” McKenna said.

At the end of the day, this one game didn’t prove anything. McKenna had the better night, but that’s not enough to settle the “who’s better?” discussion. But he did prove that he was capable of seizing the moment, and that is something worth the first-overall pick for the Leafs.

“I’m trying to be known as the guy who’s able to perform in those situations,” McKenna said.

And in case you were wondering how McKenna and Stenberg faired against each other when both players were on the ice, don’t bother: they only played one second together

All standard stats courtesy of NHL.com.
All advanced stats and shift data courtesy of Natural Stat Trick.

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