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The Toronto Maple Leafs selected forward Gavin McKenna with the first overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft on Friday.
McKenna was ranked the No. 1 North American skater by NHL Central Scouting. He tallied 15 goals and 51 points in 35 games this season as a freshman at Penn State.
McKenna is just the third player drafted first overall by the Maple Leafs, joining Wendel Clark (1985) and Auston Matthews (2016).
The Whitehorse, Yukon, native was long regarded as the top prospect in the 2026 class, but that status was challenged throughout the campaign.
McKenna - who was measured at the NHL combine at 5-foot-11 and 170 pounds - was criticized for his early-season play at Penn State, particularly regarding his off-puck habits and defensive effort. He had only four goals with the Nittany Lions before he joined Team Canada for the world juniors in December.
The marquee under-20 tournament reinvigorated McKenna. He had 14 points in seven games, including a four-point effort in the bronze-medal game versus Finland.
"I found out early on that things weren't just going to happen easy," McKenna said at the NHL combine in early June. "Once I got to world juniors, I kind of got my confidence back and figured out the game a little bit more. I started working harder off the ice and on the ice, getting into the dirty areas a little bit more, and I think that's why I started producing more."
McKenna racked up 11 goals and 33 points in 19 games with Penn State after returning from the world juniors. It was much more of the McKenna that dominated WHL play in 2024-25, when he had 129 points in 56 contests to lead the Medicine Hat Tigers to a WHL title.
The immensely skilled winger has drawn comparisons to Patrick Kane, Nikita Kucherov, and Artemi Panarin.
"It's (McKenna's) unique intellect for the game, his vision and anticipation that he's one of these players that has the eyes in the back of his head to make plays," NHL Central Scouting vice president and director Dan Marr said in April. "This is the type of player who is only going to get better as he moves forward because he's going to be playing on a roster full of good players."
