- Connor McDavid was asked about Gavin McKenna at Zach Hyman’s charity golf tournament on Monday
- The Oilers captain admitted he hasn’t followed the Maple Leafs’ No. 1 pick much this summer
- Read below for what McDavid and Hyman think is waiting for McKenna in Toronto
Connor McDavid knows exactly what Gavin McKenna is walking into.
Reporters asked the Oilers captain about Toronto’s first overall pick on Monday at Zach Hyman’s annual charity golf tournament, and McDavid didn’t dress up the answer.
“He’ll have his hands full in Toronto, but he seems like he’s prepared for it,” McDavid said. “He’ll have a good support system there too, obviously with Auston, and he’ll have lots of support around him, so he should be fine.”
TSN’s Mark Masters had the exchange from the course:
McDavid was also honest about how much of his summer he has spent studying the 18-year-old.
“I don’t know much about him. I haven’t paid attention all that much, to be honest,” McDavid said. “Seems like he’s a good kid.”
Hyman, who spent four seasons in Toronto before the trade to Edmonton, landed on the same name his captain did when he was asked about McKenna’s landing spot.
“No better person to guide him than Auston,” Hyman said.
Matthews went first overall to the Leafs in 2016 and put up 40 goals as a rookie. That is the number McKenna gets measured against now, fair or not.
McKenna piled up 51 points in 35 games at Penn State and led Canada’s offense at the 2026 World Juniors. He signed his three-year entry-level deal earlier this month and settled on No. 92 after handing his usual 72 to Sergei Bobrovsky.
His offseason has included ice time with another recent first overall pick out in Vancouver:
A rough blueprint belongs to the guy giving the scouting report. McDavid went first overall in 2015, put up 48 points in 45 games as a rookie, and has cleared 100 points in 10 of the 11 seasons since.
Oakdale Golf and Country Club also had McDavid talking up his new head coach, calling Mike Babcock the “perfect fit” in Edmonton and pointing to Babcock’s different approach as the thing the room needs. We covered McDavid and Leon Draisaitl’s Babcock endorsement earlier Monday:
Toronto missed the playoffs last season and gutted its front office over the summer. McKenna steps into all of it in September with the biggest hockey market in the world tracking every shift.
