McKenna selected No. 1 by Maple Leafs in 2026 NHL Draft

BUFFALO -- The Toronto Maple Leafs took the latest step in their offseason overhaul by selecting Gavin McKenna with the No. 1 pick in the 2026 Upper Deck NHL Draft at KeyBank Center on Friday.

Pop superstar and die-hard Maple Leafs fan Justin Bieber announced the pick in the home of the Buffalo Sabres, the same arena where Toronto selected current captain Auston Matthews with the No. 1 pick in the 2016 NHL Draft.

The 18-year-old left wing from Whitehorse, Yukon, was the sixth-youngest player in men's college hockey this season for Penn State. He finished tied for fifth in the NCAA with 51 points (15 goals, 36 assists) and was second with 1.46 points per game in 35 games. He was a top 10 finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, presented annually to the top NCAA men's hockey player.

After McKenna was picked, a video was shown of Matthews congratulating the forward and welcoming him to the Maple Leafs.

"I know how exciting this is for you and your family, and what an incredible honor it is,” Matthews said. “Congratulations, we're just as excited to have you join the Maple Leafs, and cannot wait to get started. You're coming to a franchise with an amazing history and fanbase, and we're all working to write the next great chapter together, and you're going to be a very important part of that. To all the fans of the Leafs draft party at Scotiabank Arena, thank you for your passion and your support, and we're looking forward to seeing you guys back in Toronto very soon."

McKenna then interviewed by New York Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer, the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, on the ESPN and Sportsnet broadcasts.

“Unbelievable,” McKenna told Schaefer. “Obviously, worked my whole life towards this, so for it to finally be here, it’s been a special moment.”

McKenna (5-foot-11, 170 pounds), is the fifth NCAA men's hockey player chosen No. 1 in the history of the NHL Draft, and the first since Boston University center Macklin Celebrini was taken by the San Jose Sharks in 2024.

He is the second player from Canada's Yukon Territory to be chosen in the first round of the draft, following Dylan Cozens, who was selected by the Sabres with the No. 7 pick of the 2019 NHL Draft.

The Maple Leafs finished second-to-last in the Eastern Conference this season with 32-36-14 record and won the No. 1 selection in the NHL Draft Lottery on May 5. That came two days after Toronto hired John Chayka as general manager and team legend Mats Sundin as executive adviser, hockey operations.

Those were the first two moves in an offseason of massive change in Toronto.

On June 16, Toronto acquired goalie Samuel Ersson and defenseman Emil Andrae in a trade with the Philadelphia Flyers for goalie Joseph Woll and defenseman Simon Benoit. (Ersson was then traded to the Ottawa Senators on Friday for a fifth-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft.) The next day, the Maple Leafs hired Jim Hiller as their coach, replacing Craig Berube (fired May 13). Two days later, Toronto acquired defenseman Darren Raddysh in a trade with the Tampa Bay Lightning for a fifth-round pick in the 2026 draft. As part of the sign-and-trade move, Raddysh signed an eight-year contract with the Lightning before being sent to the Maple Leafs.

Now comes McKenna, who joins a talented forward group that includes Matthews, William Nylander, Matthew Knies and John Tavares.

Rounds 2-7 of the draft are here Saturday (11 a.m. ET; NHLN, ESPN+, SN).

Prior to enrolling at Penn State, McKenna torched the Western Hockey League for parts of three seasons with Medicine Hat, including winning Canadian Hockey League Player of the Year honors and putting together a 54-game point streak (regular season and playoffs combined) in 2024-25.

"I think with any young player, there's always a learning process," Medicine Hat coach Willie Desjardins told NHL.com. "I honestly think it's great for Gavin. Toronto is a hard market. ... I say that with all due respect. They're just so passionate, but with that passion there's lots of scrutiny. But I've always believed it's not where you go, it's what you do when you get there, and the good thing about Gavin is that I know when he gets there, he's going to be great."

McKenna was the most prominent of 175 players who made the jump from the CHL to the NCAA this season.

"I like the fact he went out and challenged himself this year by playing in college," NHL Central Scouting senior western scout John Williams said. "We all know he's not big and strong yet, so college hockey was not going to be easy for him. He's so smart and skilled that he was able to produce exceptionally well."

McKenna needed an adjustment period with the Nittany Lions but ultimately found his groove during the second half of the college season and did nothing on the ice to jeopardize his standing among the top forwards available for the 2026 draft.

McKenna began the season with 18 points (four goals, 14 assists) in his first 16 games at Penn State. Then, after finishing second among all skaters with 14 points (four goals, 10 assists) in seven games for bronze medal-winning Canada at the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship, he returned to Penn State and had 33 points (11 goals, 22 assists) in his final 19 games.

The left-handed shot, who was No. 1 in Central Scouting's final ranking of North American skaters, set or tied nine school records and was the only unanimous selection to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team.

"He realized he had to get a little bigger, stronger, to compete against the age of the college players," Penn State coach Guy Gadowsky said. "He did that and that was an improvement, certainly. But at the end of the day, he led our team in takeaways and that's something I thought was very telling. He certainly engaged physically a lot more at the end of the year and I think that's partly because of the muscle and weight that he put on. I think it's just a way that he figured out how to do things."

McKenna's favorite player growing up was Patrick Kane, and he'd routinely watch video highlights of the current Detroit Red Wings forward whenever he had the chance.

"The reality is, (McKenna) wanted to challenge himself and being a 17-, 18-year-old, playing against someone sometimes up to 25 years old, is a huge challenge," Central Scouting associate director David Gregory said. "The way that he adapted, watching his growth over the course of the season, really cemented for me why he's No. 1.

"One of the things I've learned over the years doing this job is that players that project well and their trajectory is always in the right direction over the course of the year, cements for me how they're going to perform at the next level. And really from the beginning of the year all the way through, Gavin did that. There was never a doubt in my mind that this is a player that you can't pass up at No. 1."

The San Jose Sharks selected forward Ivar Stenberg from Frolunda in the Swedish Hockey League with the No. 2 pick. The Vancouver Canucks followed by selecting center Caleb Malhotra of Brantford in the Ontario Hockey League, the son of new Canucks coach Manny Malhotra, at No. 3.

With the No. 4 choice, the Sabres took Daxon Rudolph, a defenseman for Prince Albert of the WHL. The New York Rangers then used the No. 5 pick to select defenseman Alberts Smits from Munchen in DEL, the top league in Germany.

The Calgary Flames made it three straight defensemen, picking Carson Carels of Prince George in the WHL at No. 6.