Why Gavin McKenna might actually be underrated

With the NHL Draft coming up at the end of June, the Toronto Maple Leafs have the top pick. The NHL and hockey fans in general are notorious for romanticizing the next young kids coming up. NHL media throws around the term “Generational Talent” like they’re prime Oprah Winfrey, with back-to-back first overall picks being labelled as generational in Connor Bedard and Macklin Celebrini. However, the 2026 draft is unique because every top pick has high expectations attached to them before they even play a game in the NHL, but very rarely do you see a top prospect who is somehow underrated. 

Things like social media have changed the way people live their lives, for better and for worse. Gavin McKenna knows this all too well. Because of social media and events like the Brick Invitational Tournament every summer, which has seen enough NHL talent come through, people now see high-quality hockey talent at a younger age than ever. 

McKenna as advertised

This was no exception for McKenna; people first took notice of him and his talent at age 12, when he moved across Canada from Whitehorse to Kelowna to pursue a hockey career. At age 15, McKenna was drafted first overall in the 2022 WHL Bantam draft by the Medicine Hat Tigers. McKenna is the highest Yukon-born pick in WHL history. 

People have quickly forgotten how dominant he was in Medicine Hat. He had 97 points in his first full season with the Tigers in 2023–24, which is crazy enough, especially from a 16-year-old. Then he follows it up with a superhuman-type year in 2024–25 for his draft-minus-one season: 129 points and 41 goals in just 56 games. That’s more than Mike Modano in his best WHL season.  He closed out the regular season on a 40-game point streak. Spanning from November 6th until the end of the regular season, McKenna’s 40-game streak is now the longest point streak of the 21st century in the WHL. That entire season, the WHL seemed to be a battle for second place because the Tigers, led by McKenna, were simply on another planet. The Tigers’ dominance would get stopped short as they lost to Easton Cowan and the London Knights in the Memorial Cup Finals.

The decision to go to Penn State

One month later, McKenna does something no other CHL player before 2025 has gotten the opportunity to do: he commits to play in the NCAA. Due to a rule change during the season, players in the CHL no longer lose their NCAA eligibility. McKenna committed to Penn State and reportedly received $700K USD in NIL money.  

He had an amazing year with Penn State, with 51 points in 35 games. On top of that, he averaged two points per game at the World Juniors. Those numbers are considered phenomenal. However, for Canada, the expectation is to win a gold medal every year, no matter who’s on the team. As a result of Canada’s bronze medal finish, and because of the recency bias that comes with Connor Bedard’s legendary performance at the WJC in his draft year just three years prior, McKenna’s performance was considered somewhat underwhelming.  

McKenna’s year at Penn State was great. Playing against better and older competition, he tied for fourth in all of the NCAA in points. He broke several single-season records at Penn State as an 18-year-old freshman. He plays with elite-level patience and playmaking ability. McKenna was showing off NHL-level ability in a junior hockey setting during the past two seasons. 

The only counterargument to McKenna going number one is Ivar Stenberg of Frolunda HC in the Swedish League. At many points throughout this season, people have said Stenberg could go ahead of McKenna. He had 33 points in 43 games for Froluna, and many people argue he’s a better all-around player. Predicting who will be better is impossible right now; these franchises are drafting 18-year-old kids and trying to predict what they’ll be like at 25. You literally can’t do it. However, right now I’d lean McKenna’s way only because I think his production, while also jumping from the CHL to the NCAA, is more impressive. 

At his ceiling, he’s the next Patrick Kane; however, University of Denver Head Coach David Carle took it a step further, comparing McKenna to Nikita Kucherov. A more realistic prediction is that McKenna becomes a Clayton Keller-type player. 

The unknown of McKenna

In February 2026, McKenna made world headlines not just in sports after receiving a felony assault charge. Naturally, social media jumped to conclusions and were very quick to turn on McKenna. However, in typical social media rampage fashion, that wasn’t the whole story. It was later revealed that McKenna was out at a bar with his family after a game, and one person was running their mouth, directed at McKenna’s mother. Mckenna proceeded to punch him in the face and break his jaw in three separate places. Once that came out, the whole narrative around the incident changed, and I’d argue his draft stock rose even higher. 

The charges were eventually dropped, and in the first game after, McKenna scored eight points. It wasn’t against some random pushover school that was only in it for money to play against them; he did it against Ohio State. His second half was unbelievable; he was second in the country in points, earning himself a nomination for the Hobey Baker Trophy, which is awarded to the MVP of NCAA hockey. 

After the Leafs won the draft lottery, many people speculated that McKenna was a perfect fit for the Leafs to pair alongside Auston Matthews. Matthews wasn’t nearly as good as usual this season, partially due to the departure of Mitch Marner. Many believe McKenna will be a perfect replacement for Marner in Toronto if he turns out to be as good as scouts think he’s going to be. 

However, the management turnover, uncertainty surrounding Matthews, and questions involving their defence don’t disappear because they won the draft lottery. McKenna can thrive and succeed if he goes to Toronto. However, will the Leafs be able to do what they couldn’t do for ten years, and build a Stanley Cup contender around McKenna? The question isn’t whether McKenna is ready for the Leafs, but it could become “Are the Leafs ready for Gavin McKenna?”