Gavin McKenna will be the prize in the 2026 NHL Draft, the 17-year-old forward already considered a future superstar.
But another sweepstakes winner will be determined Tuesday when McKenna announces his NCAA commitment on ESPN’s 6 p.m. ET edition of “SportsCenter."
It is believed McKenna will choose between Michigan State and Penn State, each Big Ten school hoping to land the generational talent.
"McKenna is in a special category that you only come across every few years," NHL Central Scouting vice president and director Dan Marr said. "His offensive instincts and playmaking game are truly exceptional and it's his composure, compete and maturity that really sell you on his talent.”
McKenna (5-foot-11, 162 pounds) has been compared to two NHL greats who are small in stature.
“His game resembles the likes of Patrick Kane and Doug Gilmour, who both had slight builds and were able to utilize their talents to produce and use those same smarts and wits to protect themselves from hockey's physical elements,” Marr said.
This will be the first season Canadian Hockey League players are eligible to play NCAA hockey after a rule change last year. Previously they had been considered professionals because some CHL players had signed NHL entry-level contracts.
McKenna was second in the Western Hockey League last season with 129 points (41 goals, 88 assists) in 56 games with Medicine Hat, and was third in the WHL playoffs with 38 points (nine goals, 29 assists) in 16 games to help Medicine Hat reach the Memorial Cup, the four-team CHL championship tournament.
He was third in scoring at the Memorial Cup with six points (three goals, three assists) in four games as Medicine Hat lost 4-1 to London in the championship game. McKenna scored his team's only goal.
He won the Four Broncos Trophy as WHL Player of the Year and the CHL David Branch Player of the Year Award.
McKenna is the third-youngest player to win CHL player of the year award, after John Tavares (2006-07) and Sidney Crosby (2003-04), each of whom was 16 at the time.
He had a modern WHL-record 40-game regular-season point streak (100 points; 32 goals, 68 assists) that extended to 54 games (137 points; 40 goals; 97 assists) in the playoffs to set a modern CHL record (since 2000) for points in consecutive games (regular season, playoffs, Memorial Cup).
Penn State (22-14-4) reached the Frozen Four for the first time in program history last season after defeating Connecticut 3-2 in overtime to win its regional final. It lost 3-1 to Boston University in the national semifinals.
Defenseman Jackson Smith, selected by the Columbus Blue Jackets with the No. 14 pick of the 2025 NHL Draft, will play at Penn State this season. Among the returning players is expected to be forward Charlie Cerrato, who was second on the team with 42 points (15 goals, 27 assists) in 38 games and was chosen by the Carolina Hurricanes in the second round (No. 49) of the 2025 NHL Draft. He's the second-ever Penn State player to be chosen in the NHL draft, and first since Denis Smirnov by the Colorado Avalanche in the sixth round (No. 156) of the 2017 NHL Draft.
Michigan State (26-7-4) has finished first in the Big Ten during the regular season and won the conference tournament each of the past two seasons.
Among the returning players are forward Isaac Howard, a Tampa Bay Lightning prospect who won the Hobey Baker Trophy as the most outstanding men's NCAA hockey player after leading Michigan State and finishing fifth among NCAA players with 52 points (26 goals, 26 assists) in 37 games.
Goalie Trey Augustine (Detroit Red Wings), who has been the starter the past two seasons and also helped the United States win the gold medal at the 2024 and 2025 World Juniors, also will return.
"His trajectory is generational because when you compare where he is at the same age to some of these other players to get to the NHL as 18-year-olds and have an impact, he's on that same path," Central Scouting associate director David Gregory said of McKenna. "When you think of the key skills you have to have in the NHL ... you have to be smart, you have to be able to skate and you have to be able to compete. Those three important skills are maybe his three best skills, so we're not even talking about how great his hands are.
"We don't use the term ‘five-tool player’ in hockey as much as you hear it used in other sports, but McKenna's one of those guys. He's got it."
NHL.com senior draft writer Mike G. Morreale contributed to this report
