Gavin McKenna had long been seen as the consensus first-overall pick in the upcoming 2026 NHL draft, as a player that teams near the bottom of the standings were dreaming about the possibility of landing. He dominated the WHL at 15 and 16 years old, drawing comparisons to Nikita Kucherov and Patrick Kane, projecting to be a game-changing superstar winger that could alter a franchise.
Because of that dominance, McKenna chose to go the college hockey route at Penn State for his draft year to help in preparation for making an immediate jump to the NHL.
While that was certainly the right decision given how easily he was tearing up the WHL at such a young age, the transition hasn’t been as smooth as he would’ve hoped, and because of that, McKenna has been slipping down some prospect analysts’ draft rankings.
Corey Pronman of The Athletic is one of those analysts, and his updated rankings saw McKenna fall all the way to fourth, with Tynan Lawrence (first), Keaton Verhoeff (second), and Ivar Stenberg (third) all surpassing him.
Pronman had his puck skills and hockey sense as high-end, though his skating and compete were listed as average, which is where criticism has come throughout the early stages of his college hockey career.
Gavin McKenna Penn State
The 17-year-old McKenna has produced 18 points (four goals, 14 assists) in his first 16 games as a Nittany Lion. The production isn’t bad by any means, but it’s a far cry from the numbers he racked up playing junior hockey, which has created concern among scouts and analysts.
Gavin McKenna Would be a Steal at Fourth Overall
While McKenna’s draft-year season has been underwhelming thus far, he hasn’t all of a sudden lost his abilities, so if a team is able to land him outside of the top three in the upcoming draft, they should be ecstatic.
Even when struggling to adapt to the college game, McKenna is still clipping at over a point per game, which very few other players are capable of.
He was being hyped up as a generational prospect worth tanking for years in the making, so are 16 subpar games really going to erase that from everyone’s memory?
It might for some, but it shouldn’t, and whichever front office is smart enough to remember the talent this kid possesses is unlike many others will reap the rewards for years and years to come.
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