What Gavin McKenna offers the Toronto Maple Leafs

May 6, 2026, 10:00 EDTUpdated: May 6, 2026, 09:43 EDT

What Gavin McKenna offers the Toronto Maple Leafs

Credit: Steven Ellis

John Chayka’s job just got a lot easier.

Day 2 on the job, and, against all odds (OK, sure, 8.5 percent), the Toronto Maple Leafs landed the first overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft. This is a team who made the playoffs in nine straight seasons and was a win away from knocking off the eventual Stanley Cup champions, the Florida Panthers, out in the second round last year.

So there’s absolutely no chance in anyone’s mind 12 months ago that the Leafs could have been in a spot to land Gavin McKenna at first overall. And then the balls fell Toronto’s way on Tuesday night.

The Maple Leafs selected first overall a decade ago, taking Auston Matthews at the 2016 NHL Draft in Buffalo. So it’s only fitting that they’re doing it all again in the Land of the Chicken Wing this June, hoping to land another franchise player. Not every scout would take him there, but McKenna is the leading candidate to go No. 1. Maybe, just maybe, things will work out a bit better, playoff-wise, with McKenna in the fold compared to the last time they chose this high.

McKenna’s season was scrutinized to hell and back. A so-so first half with Penn State University left many scouts feeling he wasn’t the right choice at No. 1. It didn’t help that Ivar Stenberg was putting up outstanding numbers playing against men in the Swedish Hockey League, one of the best leagues in Europe. But McKenna had a big World Juniors, registering 14 points in seven games en route to a bronze medal. McKenna then had 33 points in his final 19 games. He finished fifth in the country with 51 points in 35 games. Sure, he didn’t come close to Macklin Celebrini’s 64 points in his rookie year, but that was a truly special campaign on a much more competitive team.

By all accounts, it was a successful college season – one that proved he was a high-end talent.

“I could have stayed in the (WHL) and put up a bunch of points, but I wanted to challenge myself this year and I’ve been getting challenged,” McKenna said ahead of the 2026 World Juniors. “I think that being in the NCAA prepares me for this tournament, and hopefully I have a good one.”

And scouts share the same opinion. McKenna had 41 goals and 129 points in 56 games with the Medicine Hat Tigers in 2024-25, winning the WHL title in the process. The Tigers were one of the best teams in the league, yet again, without him. Had McKenna stayed, 175 points would have been absolutely doable. With all due respect to Penn State’s forward crop, it almost always felt like McKenna was thinking five steps ahead of everyone, both with his own on-ice placement, but with his passes, too – and his linemates just didn’t have the hockey IQ to match.

“Entering the season, Coach [Guy] Gadowski and his staff knew McKenna was a special player,” PSU CommRadio’s Hayden Lewis told DFO’s Tyson Cole earlier this year. “Even dating back to the first press conference, Coach Gadowski straight up said he’s a special player and that the biggest thing they needed was their other guys, who essentially don’t have the hockey IQ that McKenna has, to acclimate to the style of play that Gavin plays. He’s the most pivotal player for this program.”

In college, specifically in the second half, McKenna learned to play more aggressively. Is he going to lay anyone down at six-foot and 170 pounds? Not a chance. But given he seemed afraid to engage physically along the boards a year ago, he was much more physically engaged than we’ve seen. Heck, he tried to kill his former Tigers teammate, Cayden Lindstrom, just days before the…incident. You know the one.

Scouts liken McKenna’s skillset to that of Nikita Kucherov or Patrick Kane. McKenna is one of the smartest players in the draft class, and he’s able to slow things down better than just about anyone. He’s a truly elite playmaker at the college level, and there’s little reason to doubt that he’ll be an absolute force with the puck in the NHL.

McKenna’s primary weapon is his noggin. He processes the game two steps ahead of just about anyone he plays against. McKenna uses deceptive body angling to freeze goalies before sliding a cross-seam pass, something he pulls off successfully multiple times a night. He is a primary driver who can turn a broken play into a high-danger chance in a split second. The World Juniors proved that.

“He is such a smart player, and he always finds a way to get the puck to you or to a good spot on the ice,” Nashville Predators prospect and former Canadian World Junior teammate Brady Martin said.

High-end talents need to be good skaters, and McKenna fits the bill. McKenna relies on constant crossovers and lateral agility rather than raw, linear speed. This allows him to maintain high speeds while changing direction, making him extremely difficult to pin down along the boards or in transition. McKenna can still burn guys in a straight line, but it’s actually the elusiveness – like Lane Hutson – that makes him so difficult to contain. He uses his footwork to avoid hits as well as anyone in college, too, helping to offset his smaller frame.

The World Juniors proved just how dominant McKenna can be on the power play. He thrives in tight spaces near the boards and can slither himself out of trouble. He has some of the quickest hands you’ll find, and he’s a head-fake wizard. Even some of the more reserved penalty killers have trouble reading what he’s going to do next, allowing McKenna to create high-danger opportunities. McKenna also tends to find passing lanes through traffic that nobody else can. McKenna’s shot can use a bit more power, but he still should have no issue being a 20-30-goal scorer in the NHL, while primarily racking up assists.

Moving forward, though, McKenna absolutely needs to bulk up if he’s going to be able to dominate in the NHL. He has a near-identical physical profile to that of both Kane and Kucherov (he’s slightly taller than both). So it might not be as big an issue as some think.

The Leafs failed to find Auston Matthews a high-end playmaker after Mitch Marner left. McKenna can be the difference-maker Toronto desperately needs, and his three-year, entry-level contract will give them tons of cap flexibility in the short term. By then, Toronto will have a clearer picture of the long-term outlook of both Matthews and William Nylander. Maybe McKenna’s arrival makes it easier for the skeptical portion of the fanbase to see a future where both No. 34/88 stick around for the rest of their careers.

McKenna should have much more impactful linemates than, say, Connor Bedard has had early in his NHL career with the Chicago Blackhawks. That’s an underrated element of this whole thing, really. These young stars need quality teammates to maximize their potential more quickly. Toronto had a dreadful season, sure, but he’s guaranteed to play with either Matthews – one of the NHL’s better goal-scorers, when healthy – or John Tavares, who just registered the ninth 70-plus point campaign of his career. You can joke about Toronto’s lack of playoff success from their biggest stars all you want – fair game. But those are quality mentors to lean on immediately in your career. And, in Tavares’ case, both he and McKenna will play for Canada at the upcoming IIHF World Championship.

The Leafs have to actually choose McKenna, of course. But right now, more scouts believe he’s the best player available than those who don’t. Many who were concerned about his lack of physicality and early middling production have warmed up to him at this point. Turns out, it’s not easy to jump to the NCAA at 17 and thrive immediately.

It’s too early to tell if the Whitehorse, Yukon native is going to be a legitimate NHL superstar or not. He’s been in the hockey consciousness for half a decade at this point, so expectations are understandably high. But for Leafs fans, there’s finally a reason to celebrate. Whether or not they take McKenna, Toronto holds the first pick. It might be exactly what the team needs to get themselves back into the playoffs sooner rather than later.

Enjoy the experience. And get your No. 72 jersey orders prepared.

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