- Gavin McKenna signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Maple Leafs
- The deal ends his NCAA eligibility and turns the 2026 first overall pick pro
- Read below for the numbers behind McKenna’s rise and what comes next in Toronto
The wait in Toronto is over. Gavin McKenna is officially a pro.
Toronto signed its 2026 first overall pick to a three-year entry-level contract on Friday. The move closes the door on a return to Penn State and sends the most hyped forward prospect in years straight to the NHL.
The league made it official:
McKenna went No. 1 to the Maple Leafs on June 25, the sixth NCAA player ever taken first overall. He arrived in the city about 15 hours after his name was called and skated with the club at development camp days later.
Catch his first spin on the ice in blue and white:
The resume backs up the noise. McKenna spent three seasons with the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers, carried them to the 2025 WHL championship and a Memorial Cup final, and took home CHL Player of the Year honors along the way.
Then he did it against older bodies. In his lone season at Penn State, McKenna put up 51 points and became the first Nittany Lion to win the Big Ten scoring title. His eight-point night against Ohio State in February was the most in a Division I game in nearly four decades.
Now the question is where he slots in. Elliotte Friedman reported the Leafs want McKenna on Auston Matthews’ wing right away, a plan that only gets more real now that the contract is done.
He turns 19 in December. Toronto just handed the keys to a teenager and told him to drive.
