The Yukon kid gets the first shift
Gavin McKenna grew up in Whitehorse. Hardly anyone from that corner of the Canadian north ever reaches the NHL, and on Saturday night the 18-year-old winger pulls on a Maple Leafs sweater for the first time, against the Montreal Canadiens in preseason.
He is Toronto’s first No. 1 overall pick since Auston Matthews in 2016. That line alone fills a building.
Head coach Jim Hiller has put him on the left side with John Tavares at centre and William Nylander on the right. The trio came together within the opening days of camp, and Hiller liked it enough to leave it alone.
“He found them a lot, with plenty of pucks,” the coach told NHL.com. What sold him was the puck moving across all three of them, rather than one creator dragging the other two along.
Try it for $0.99.
Matthews has been through this exact thing
A decade ago the captain was the teenager everyone in Toronto was watching. He knows what the job does to a first overall pick in this city.
“He’s excellent, he plays with a lot of confidence,” Matthews said. “He came in and found his rhythm right away. When he’s on the ice with the puck, you can see the talent and the plays he can make.” Matthews also pointed to how quickly the young winger has settled into the room.
There is a roster question sitting underneath all of it. Toronto has spent years hunting for a third scoring threat behind Matthews and Nylander, and nothing tried so far has stuck.
51 points in 35 games, then a bronze medal
McKenna needed one college season. At Penn State he put up 51 points in 35 games, 15 goals and 36 assists, and the scouts had seen enough.
He then wore Canada’s colours at the 2026 World Junior Championship: four goals, ten assists, 14 points in seven games. Canada came away with bronze.
Preseason will answer part of the question. The real one starts in a few weeks.
See the rest of the NHL news on our mathodds website and app!
in your pocket.
Real-time notifications & alerts
Leave a Reply