McKenna, other top prospects take in ‘fun’ NHLPA Rookie Showcase

CHICAGO -- Roger McQueen was enjoying the friendly reunion aspect of the NHLPA Rookie Showcase at Blackhawks Ice Center on Wednesday.

“You see so many of the guys playing against them, obviously not liking them for a bit and then you get to meet them and they’re all great,” the Anaheim Ducks forward prospect said with a laugh. “It’s been fun. It’s great to be here.”

Twenty-one NHL prospects are at this year’s Rookie Showcase, where players were photographed for their first Upper Deck trading cards and participated in video shoots on the ice for EA Sports and other promotional materials for the upcoming season and beyond.

Most players haven’t gotten a glimpse of the NHL yet. Others have, such as Philadelphia Flyers forward Porter Martone, who had 10 points (four goals, six assists) in nine regular-season games and five points (two goals, three assists) in 10 Stanley Cup Playoff games with the Flyers last season.

“I mean, it’s nice being around guys who are in the same boat as you and hopefully looking to crack an NHL roster this season,” Martone said. “Definitely being able to kind of get that taste of it last year was a great experience and I’m very grateful for that.”

The showcase is usually held in early September, but NHLPA assistant executive director Ron Hainsey said it was moved up to late July to allow the players more time to decompress before the start of NHL training camps.

“It gives the guys an opportunity to be here a little more laid-back as far as how we’ve done it historically the week before training camp,” Hainsey said. “A lot of these guys know each other already, some don’t. They’re all going to be competing against each other, but at the same time, there’s a brotherhood as well.”

It was a relaxed setting Wednesday as players went through media availability among their other tasks of the day. Getting their own hockey cards is an especially fun part for those who had hockey player cards in their youth.

“I had a bunch when I was real young. I think my first card was a Pavel Datsyuk card and I grew up watching his games at the Joe (Louis Arena),” Detroit Red Wings goaltending prospect Trey Augustine said of the Hall of Fame forward, who played his entire NHL career with the Red Wings (2001-16).

Is Augustine glad he never had to face Datsyuk?

“Yes, very glad,” he said to laughs. “I didn’t want to be embarrassed too bad.”

The showcase is also in Chicago for the first time after previously being in Washington, D.C.

“I’ve not spent a whole lot of time here before but know it’s a pretty big week here from what I hear. I didn’t realize there’s a lot going on with concerts and stuff like that,” Gavin McKenna, the No. 1 pick by the Toronto Maple Leafs at the 2026 NHL Draft, said.

Lollapalooza begins here Thursday.

“I don’t know what the plan is, but maybe find my way to a concert, I don’t know,” McKenna said.

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On Tuesday, prospects had dinner and listened to a talk by former NHL forward Kyle Okposo and Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson.

“At the end of the day, they’re young. They don’t really know what’s coming at them, most of them,” said Okposo, who’s now a business development and player engagement adviser for the NHLPA. “I was the same way, so I’m trying to use that perspective that I had and playing for 17 years, now being out of the game also and understanding more of how this side of the game works.

“I’m just trying to give them a bit of perspective and a different lens into kind of how to think about how this is going to work going forward.”

Sacha Boisvert especially liked listening to Wilson. The 20-year-old forward, who the Chicago Blackhawks selected with the No. 18 pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, is expected to bring a physical presence either to Chicago or Rockford, the Blackhawks’ affiliate in the American Hockey League.

“Everyone has different paths,” Boisvert said. “Just hearing from him, the style he plays, I don’t want to be Tom Wilson, but I want to be the type of player he is. Just hearing the path he took and all of that, guys would ask questions, I was sitting in the back just listening. It’s a great conversation. It makes you learn a lot.”