Gavin McKenna Opens Up About Falling Draft Stock

The hockey world appears to be growing bored with Gavin McKenna. After years as the unquestioned best prospect of the upcoming 2026 NHL Draft class, a slow start to his college hockey career has led to a surprising slide down draft rankings.

McKenna most notably fell to fourth on Corey Pronman of The Athletic’s latest draft board, now behind the likes of Tynan Lawrence, Keaton Verhoeff, and Ivar Stenberg.

This is widely viewed as one of the deepest and most talented classes we’ve seen in quite some time, but that didn’t stop eyebrows from being raised when McKenna failed to crack the top three of Pronman’s rankings.

The Whitehorse, Yukon native is currently gearing up for a return to the World Juniors, looking for redemption after he and Team Canada suffered a disappointing quarterfinal loss to Czechia last year. While that’s his number one focus at the moment, McKenna was also asked about the noise surrounding his underwhelming start at Penn State.

McKenna said:

“There’s a lot of chatter on my year but it’s a growth year. I’m playing harder guys. I could have stayed in the Dub & put up a bunch of points but I wanted to challenge myself & I’ve been getting challenged,”

When asked whether that talk fires him up, McKenna didn’t hesitate:

“Oh yeah,”

The 17-year-old has tallied 18 points (four goals, 14 assists) in his first 16 games as a Nittany Lion, solid production, though not exactly the gaudy numbers he’s used to racking up.

Gavin McKenna Can Remind Everyone He Deserves to Go First Overall

There’s no better stage to put on a big-time performance during your draft year than at the World Juniors Hockey Championships, especially for Team Canada.