Maple Leafs select Gavin McKenna first overall at NHL draft
Written by The Canadian Press on June 26, 2026
BUFFALO — Gavin McKenna will continue sporting blue and white.
The Toronto Maple Leafs selected the slick Whitehorse-born winger with the No. 1 pick at 2026 NHL draft Friday night. The pick was announced by Canadian pop icon and Maple Leafs fan Justin Bieber.
McKenna is coming off a freshman season at Penn State where he put up 15 goals and 36 assists for 51 points across 35 NCAA games following a pair of dominant campaigns with the Western Hockey League’s Medicine Hat Tigers.
The 18-year-old joins an Original Six franchise coming off a disastrous 2025-26 that started with Stanley Cup aspirations before spiralling down the drain in spectacular fashion.
Toronto, which has a new head coach and general manager following a 28th-place finish, then got a terrific bounce when it won the draft lottery despite entering with odds of just 8.5 per cent.
And while the Maple Leafs were a mess last season, the club still has a talented forward group led by captain and star centre Auston Matthews — selected No. 1 overall inside the same building as Friday’s proceedings a decade ago — that’s supported by William Nylander, John Tavares and Matthew Knies.
The San Jose Sharks took Ivar Stenberg with the second pick at KeyBank Center.
Stenberg had 11 goals and 22 assists for 33 points across 43 games with Frolunda in his country’s top professional league in 2025-26. The 18-year-old, who helped Sweden win just its third world junior hockey championship with 10 points in seven games in January.
And the Vancouver Canucks grabbed Caleb Malhotra with the third selection.
The son of former NHL forward and new Vancouver Canucks head coach Manny Malhotra had 84 points (29 goals, 55 assists) in 67 games this season for the Ontario Hockey League’s Brantford Bulldogs.
The six-foot-two, 182-pound centre from Toronto added 13 goals and 13 assists for 26 points in 15 playoff contests.
Manny was drafted seventh overall by the Rangers in Buffalo at the 1998 draft.
Owners of the NHL’s longest Stanley Cup drought — one dating back to 1967 — the Maple Leafs and McKenna will now look to reload under new bench boss Jim Hiller, GM John Chayka and Mats Sundin, a franchise legend turned senior executive adviser of hockey operations.
Toronto made its third-ever top pick at a draft after selecting Wendel Clark in 1985 and Matthews in 2016.
McKenna, the top-ranked North American skater according to NHL Central Scouting, burst into the sport’s consciousness back in 2022 at age 14 with a four-assist debut in the WHL.
The phenom went on to register 34 goals and 97 points the following campaign before leading the entire Canadian Hockey League with an outrageous 129 points (41 goals, 88 assists) in 2024-25.
McKenna, who stands five foot 11 and weighs 170 pounds, could have remained in major junior for his draft year, but instead went the U.S. college route to face stiffer competition in hopes of being better prepared at the professional level.
After a period of adjustment on the ice sporting the Nittany Lions’ blue and white threads, a February altercation where McKenna allegedly broke a man’s jaw could have derailed his season.
Prosecutors in Pennsylvania, however, subsequently dropped the most serious charge of aggravated assault. McKenna, who was not suspended by Penn State and hasn’t shared his version of events publicly, still faces charges of misdemeanour simple assault, along with harassment and disorderly conduct.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 26, 2026.
Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press