Gavin McKenna drove to his first Maple Leafs preseason game with John Tavares. The 18-year-old from Whitehorse heard a roar when his name was announced at Scotiabank Arena before taking his place alongside Tavares and William Nylander. Toronto later sent him out with its goalie pulled, giving him a chance to help tie the game during his first appearance. “That starting lineup call was pretty cool,” McKenna said afterward, according to NHL.com.Source: NHL.com, Sept. 20
The Leafs lost 4–1 to Montreal on September 19. McKenna finished with three shots in 20 minutes, 39 seconds, showing flashes of creativity while also acknowledging turnovers. He played on the left wing, with Tavares at centre and Nylander on the right, as he had during the opening practices of training camp.Sources: NHL.com, Sept. 20 · Maple Leafs draft announcement
Toronto selected him on June 26 after a season at Penn State. His college totals were 15 goals and 36 assists for 51 points in 35 games. Before that, he had helped Medicine Hat win the Western Hockey League championship. He had recorded 38 points in 16 playoff games during that championship run, with 29 assists accounting for most of his production.Source: Maple Leafs draft announcement
McKenna has landed in a terrific situation for a first-overall pick, with enough established talent around him to share the offensive responsibility. Matthews gives him a superstar teammate still in his prime, while Tavares remains an excellent player who can help him through the same introduction to professional hockey. Both were first-overall selections themselves, Matthews in 2016 and Tavares in 2009. Tavares entered camp as Toronto’s leading goal scorer from the previous season, with Nylander its leading point producer.Sources: NHL.com, Sept. 16 · Sportsnet, Sept. 17
Toronto’s media already seem ready to glaze him for every little thing he does, giving even a pass out of a crowded corner its own coverage. The coverage offers a preview of how quickly a good play can become a talking point in this market. With that attention accompanying a place alongside accomplished forwards, McKenna has an unusually favourable opportunity to make an early impression.Source: NHL.com, Sept. 17
McKenna’s earliest training ground was an outdoor rink built by his father, Willy. His grandfather, Joe Mason, recalled a child who devised his own drills, then kept practising until he mastered them. Mason constructed wooden equipment for those exercises, helping his grandson practise skating and stickhandling on the rink at home.Source: NHL.com: Joe Mason interview
In a June interview with NHL.com, Mason described how his grandson had become the better skater by age 10. He also described building the family’s cabin near a trapline, where his grandchildren could ride ATVs during the summer and snowmobiles in winter. McKenna later included the cabin in a tattoo on his forearm, connecting it to memories of time spent with his family.Source: NHL.com: Joe Mason interview
He left home at 12 to pursue hockey. For his family, supporting that ambition meant missing portions of his adolescence. His mother, Krystal, told APTN News before the draft about seeing him after time apart and noticing a deeper voice and greater maturity. She also described how requests for photographs could interrupt their limited time together when her son returned home.Source: APTN News family profile
McKenna is a citizen of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation. His mother explained that the wolf in his tattoo represents their clan, while the moose reflects hunting trips with his family. The design also includes the Tombstone Mountains, alongside the cabin that his grandfather built. His younger sister, Kasey, described him as someone who loves being outdoors, and his family said he often rides motorbikes when he returns to the Yukon.Source: APTN News family profile
McKenna has spoken about drawing perspective from his grandfather’s experience as a residential school survivor. In the NHL.com interview, he connected Mason’s endurance with his own determination to appreciate opportunities and cope with difficulties. Mason said he wanted his grandchildren to respect their family and community, and to remain grateful for what they had.Source: NHL.com: Joe Mason interview
In his NHL.com draft diary, McKenna described a suit whose lining included family members and orange details connected to his Indigenous identity and Orange Shirt Day. His sister made beads representing the Wolf Clan, which he wore for the occasion. He described embracing his family after the selection and wanting to return to them for another hug once his draft responsibilities were finished.Source: McKenna’s NHL.com draft diary
McKenna also wrote about playing as Auston Matthews in the NHL video game, where he liked using the captain’s powerful shot. Matthews had contacted him after the scouting combine and sent a video message following his selection, giving McKenna an introduction to a player he had watched growing up. Before the draft, McKenna also spent time with friend Ryder Ritchie, including a sleepover the night before his selection.Source: McKenna’s NHL.com draft diary
During his final season with Medicine Hat in 2024–25, McKenna produced 41 goals and 88 assists in 56 regular-season games for the Tigers. His 129 points placed him third across the Canadian Hockey League; his assists led the CHL. Michael Misa finished ahead of him with 134 points, while Andrew Cristall recorded 132 points during the same season.Source: CHL award announcement
He finished the regular season on a 40-game point streak and extended it through his first 14 playoff appearances. The resulting 54-game run established the CHL’s longest single-season streak since 2000, counting the regular season and postseason. He was named CHL player of the year at 17, becoming the award’s third-youngest recipient behind Sidney Crosby and Tavares.Source: CHL award announcement
The CHL reported that McKenna was held without a point in only four of 76 appearances that season, a total including his postseason games. The count also included the Memorial Cup, where Medicine Hat reached the final after winning the WHL title.Sources: CHL award announcement · Maple Leafs draft announcement
At the 2024 under-18 worlds in Finland, McKenna scored a hat trick as Canada beat the United States 6–4 for gold. Canada trailed during the third period before turning the game around. McKenna scored the tying goal and later completed his hat trick into an empty net.Source: Hockey Canada gold-medal report
He finished that tournament with 10 goals and 20 points, setting Canadian records in both categories at a single under-18 world championship. Hockey Canada also reported his selection to the tournament’s media all-star team. His final included an assist, giving him four points in the game that decided the gold medal.Sources: Hockey Canada gold-medal report · IIHF final report
McKenna moved to Penn State after the NCAA opened eligibility to players from Canadian major junior hockey, placing him against older and more physically developed opponents. Associated Press reporting before the draft described an adjustment that lasted through the first half of the season. He improved after returning from the world juniors, eventually finishing with the college totals that helped secure his place atop the draft.Source: Associated Press, via TSN
Penn State coach Guy Gadowsky told the AP that he initially beat McKenna regularly at table tennis, beginning with the forward’s recruiting visit. Over the season, McKenna improved until the coach was losing to him repeatedly. Gadowsky connected that persistence with the forward’s belief that he could solve problems and improve against tougher hockey opposition.Source: Associated Press, via TSN
McKenna won the Big Ten scoring title with 38 points in 24 conference games and was named the conference’s freshman of the year. His 36 assists established a Penn State single-season record, while his 51 points set the school’s freshman mark. He was also a top-10 finalist for the Hobey Baker Award.Source: Penn State player record
Against Ohio State on February 20, he recorded seven assists and eight points in an 11–4 victory. Penn State reported that five of those assists were primary assists, meaning his pass directly preceded the goal. Both his points and assists established single-game program records.Source: Penn State draft release
Following a January 31 incident in State College during his college season, police charged McKenna with assault. Prosecutors withdrew the felony aggravated-assault charge in February, saying video evidence did not support it. The misdemeanor simple-assault charge remained after that decision, as did summary charges for harassment and disorderly conduct. WJAC reported in August that the case had received another continuance amid negotiations. That report did not establish a resolution, and no later disposition was verified for this article. The allegations themselves are not findings of guilt. Penn State did not suspend him; Gadowsky confirmed on February 11 that McKenna would continue participating in all athletic activities.Sources: Centre County prosecutor’s statement · WJAC case update, August · Centre Daily Times, Feb. 11
After the first official practice on September 17, Tavares described McKenna’s ability to control the puck and find a teammate when defenders appeared to have taken away his options. Tavares also pointed to how firmly the rookie held his stick, an asset for a young player preparing to face NHL size and strength. “I think he’s got some of that natural hockey strength,” Tavares said, as reported by The Leafs Nation.Source: The Leafs Nation, Sept. 17
McKenna acknowledged that starting camp beside those players did not guarantee he would stay on their line. He said he needed to earn that place and was preparing for the first preseason game with that in mind. He described wanting to keep making his own plays rather than changing how he approached the game because of his linemates.Source: The Leafs Nation, Sept. 17
Speaking after practice, Nylander described helping McKenna when questions arose and offering occasional observations, while leaving room for the rookie to play. He had seen opportunities develop in their first practice together and wanted the line to keep building without getting ahead of itself. “Gavin’s ability to make plays through traffic is elite,” Tavares said in the same NHL.com report.Source: NHL.com, Sept. 17
Hiller described watching Chris Tanev apparently contain McKenna in a corner during the opening practice, only for the rookie to escape and lift a backhand pass into space. In Sportsnet’s account, the coach explained that McKenna would need to produce that kind of play against veteran NHL defencemen once the regular season began.Source: Sportsnet, Sept. 17
McKenna is staying with the Tavares family, which allows the linemates to discuss hockey on their drives to the rink or after returning home. Sportsnet’s Luke Fox reported that the teenager was already playing backyard baseball with Tavares’s children. The living arrangement provides daily contact with a veteran whose attention to detail helped inform Hiller’s choice of linemates.Source: Sportsnet, Sept. 17
Tavares described discussing how the linemates could support each other, including changes he could make to help his wingers. He also said some things were better left unsaid because he did not want a young player thinking excessively, preferring to offer advice when he felt it would be useful.Source: Sportsnet, Sept. 17
McKenna described growing more comfortable as he settled into a routine with his teammates. Being around the group and establishing a home were helping the transition, according to David Alter’s report for The Hockey News following the opening practice. “It's all just feeling like home. So when you're out there, it's a lot easier when you're comfortable,” McKenna said.Source: The Hockey News, Sept. 18
In that same report, Hiller identified defensive play as the combination’s likely biggest challenge and said the veterans would need to perform their responsibilities well while helping McKenna learn his.Source: The Hockey News, Sept. 18
After two practices, Hiller said McKenna had been finding his linemates regularly with passes, without becoming excessively deferential to the established players beside him. The coach saw a line capable of distributing the puck through each forward, rather than relying entirely on one player to create its chances. “He just makes the right play when it needs to be played,” Hiller said September 18, according to Maple Leafs Hotstove’s transcript.Source: Maple Leafs Hotstove, Sept. 18
In Saturday’s game, McKenna took an offensive-zone hooking penalty and drew a holding penalty against Montreal defenceman Maksymilian Szuber. Hiller used him late with the goalie pulled, an early opportunity to help Toronto chase the game. McKenna finished without a point, leaving both chances created and mistakes to examine before his next appearance.Source: TSN, Sept. 20
Afterward, Hiller said McKenna needed to get closer to the puck instead of waiting to see whether someone could deliver it. The coach wanted him to move into those contests and create plays from there as he adjusted to the NHL’s pace. “We want him to have the puck,” Hiller said, according to TSN’s Mark Masters.Source: TSN, Sept. 20
Hiller also said he did not want McKenna overthinking his first game, describing him as capable of evaluating his own performance. McKenna acknowledged having made turnovers and attributed some of them to nerves, while saying he felt he had created opportunities during his debut.Source: TSN, Sept. 20
