'I'd be pumped': McKenna dreaming of No. 1 with Leafs holding top pick at NHL draft

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BUFFALO — Gavin McKenna saw the video evidence pretty quickly.

The Maple Leafs beat the odds last month to win the NHL’s draft lottery and secure the first overall pick.

The Buffalo Sabres — this year’s event hosts — opened their second-round playoff series with the Montreal Canadiens one day after the ping-pong balls fell in Toronto’s favour.

An excited Maple Leafs fan, meanwhile, had already secured a blue-and-white McKenna jersey with his familiar No. 72 splashed across the back, and was cruising around KeyBank Centre before a pair of Atlantic Division rivals battled on the ice.

The 18-year-old winger from Whitehorse is hoping those crisp threads don’t go to waste.

“It doesn’t really feel real, but it’s pretty cool,” McKenna said of potentially hearing his name called first Friday inside the same rink where the Maple Leafs took Auston Matthews with the top selection a decade ago. “Toronto is such a big fan base and passionate fan base. If I do get drafted there, I’d be pumped.

“It was pretty cool to see (the jersey).”

No. 1, in short, has been on his mind.

“I’ve thought about it,” McKenna said Thursday. “Wherever I get picked, I’m excited. It’s the NHL draft. I get to experience it with my family and go through it with them.”

The top-ranked North American skater according to NHL Central Scouting has been in the eye of the 2026 draft storm since bursting onto the Western Hockey League scene at age 14 with a four-assist debut for the Medicine Hat Tigers back in 2022.

McKenna went on to put up 97 points (34 goals, 63 assists) the following campaign before leading the Canadian Hockey League with an eye-popping 129 points (41 goals, 88 assists) in 2024-25.

But instead of running it back with the Tigers, he decided to go the NCAA route this past season, joining Penn State and playing against bigger, stronger competition on a U.S. college circuit that’s more structured in hopes of being better prepared for the next level.

McKenna got off to a difficult start before finishing with 51 points (15 goals, 36 assists) across 35 games. Another bump in the road came in February during an on-campus altercation where McKenna allegedly broke a man’s jaw.

Prosecutors in Pennsylvania subsequently dropped the most serious charge of aggravated assault. McKenna, who was not suspended by the team and hasn’t shared his version of events publicly, still faces charges of misdemeanour simple assault, along with harassment and disorderly conduct.

“Lot of ups and downs this year,” said McKenna, also a member of Canada’s bronze-medal squad at the world junior hockey championship. “Just trying to battle through that stuff and just block out all the noise and stay humble and stay positive through it all. I learned a lot.”

Maple Leafs general manager John Chayka, who visited McKenna in the Yukon recently and is looking to get the Original Six franchise back on track after a disastrous 2025-26, said Friday at head coach Jim Hiller’s official introduction in Toronto that the organization has decided on the first pick.

“Amazing story,” Chayka said of McKenna, while at the same declining to indicate what direction the organization will go. “Never had a skills coach until he was 13, didn’t have a skating coach until he was 13, he’s not at the gym until he was 15.

“Just that Canadian story of being out of the rink, love of the game, passion for the game.”

Ivar Stenberg, rated as the No. 1 European skater, is hoping he can nudge McKenna out of top spot.

The San Jose Sharks, meanwhile, hold the second pick and the Vancouver Canucks are slated to go third before the Sabres, who jumped to No. 4 this week following a blockbuster deal with the Chicago Blackhawks that sent defenceman Bowen Byram to the Windy City, and the New York Rangers round out the top-5.

“It’s been fun,” Stenberg, a Swedish winger, said of going through the draft process. “(McKenna’s) a good guy, really good hockey player, too. Whatever happens, it’s gonna be good for both.”

The Calgary Flames own the No. 6 and No. 30 picks, while the Winnipeg Jets are sitting at No. 8.

The Ottawa Senators, who dealt the No. 9 selection they got from the Florida Panthers in the Brady Tkachuk swap last weekend to San Jose for a package that included forward William Eklund, are slotted in at 25th and 32nd.

Vancouver also has the 24th selection, and Montreal owns No. 28, while the Edmonton Oilers traded their pick to the Sharks in the deal for defenceman Jake Walman in March 2025. Rounds two through seven of the draft go Saturday.

The prospects have been watching the wheeling and dealing from afar as general managers have swapped picks, prospects and stars over a hectic stretch.

North Dakota defenceman Keaton Verhoeff, the No. 4-ranked North American skater, didn’t speak to the Sabres at the combine earlier this month, but could now be in Buffalo’s crosshairs after the trade with Chicago.

“We’ll see what happens,” said the Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., product. “It’s a waiting game now.”

It’s a moment these teenagers have dreamt about. Now it’s just over the horizon.

“Very grateful for where I’m at,” McKenna said. “If I were a young kid telling myself this is where I’d be, talking in front of (reporters) at the NHL draft, I’d be pumped.

“I try to stay grateful through it all.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 25, 2026.

Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press

-With files from Curtis Withers in Toronto.