- Gavin McKenna and Lynden Lakovic have been best friends since McKenna moved to Kelowna at age 12
- McKenna went first overall to the Maple Leafs while Lakovic is a 2025 Capitals first-round pick
- Read below for what Lakovic said about training with McKenna and his own injury recovery
Before Gavin McKenna was the first pick in the NHL Draft, he was just the new kid in Kelowna.
McKenna went first overall to the Maple Leafs last month. Long before that, he was a 12-year-old who landed in Kelowna and lined up next to Lynden Lakovic. The two have been best friends ever since.
Lakovic, a Capitals first-round pick in 2025, walked through how it started.
“We met when he moved to Kelowna when he was 12 and played together for two years,” Lakovic told RMNB. “We stayed friends since he went to Medicine Hat and I went to Moose Jaw. He trains here in the summers, so we hang out with each other every day and are best friends. We’re always together no matter if that’s skating, working out, or just hanging out.”
Toronto wasted no time celebrating the pick:
The two came up together before junior hockey split them apart. They played for the Kelowna-based Pursuit of Excellence and RINK Hockey Academy as young teenagers. McKenna landed in Medicine Hat, Lakovic went to Moose Jaw, and the friendship held.
Lakovic led the WHL in goals last season before a December upper-body injury ended his year. The 6-foot-4 winger returned to Kelowna in January, started skating again in mid-February, and says he has packed on five pounds of muscle.
Lakovic was asked how the recovery is coming along.
“Recovery’s going great,” he said. “I feel great about myself and my game right now. It’s been a long, long road to recovery, but it was the right decision me and my team in Washington made, and I don’t regret it at all.”
His summer skate group in Kelowna is stacked. McKenna is in it, along with Tij Iginla, Ryder Ritchie, and brothers Brayden and Luke Schenn.
The Leafs have already cranked up the McKenna hype machine:
McKenna starts his NHL career in Toronto next to Auston Matthews, William Nylander, and John Tavares. Lakovic is ticketed for the AHL’s Hershey Bears. The two turned into WHL rivals once already, and the NHL will line them up on opposite benches again soon enough.
