WHL Stars & NHL Debuts: 2025 WHL Champion McKenna skates into the spotlight in Maple Leafs premiere
Toronto, Ont. — Welcome to the NHL, Gavin McKenna.
Just over three months after the Toronto Maple Leafs (well, technically, Justin Bieber) selected him first overall in the 2026 NHL Draft, the 18-year-old hit the ice at Scotiabank Arena for his NHL debut on Tuesday night.
While the Maple Leafs came up short against the Montreal Canadiens in a 3-2 loss, it was still an unforgettable night for McKenna, who had plenty of family and friends from his hometown of Whitehorse, Yukon, in the crowd.
“It’s pretty hard to forget a day like this,” McKenna told reporters postgame. “Coming out here, getting to have that rookie lap, seeing my family on the glass and warm-ups… Hearing your name called in the player intros — it’s all pretty special.”
The 5-foot-11, 164-pound winger registered one shot and was -2 in 15:19 of ice time.
While McKenna was blunt in his assessment of his own game (“Not great”, he conceded), he’ll have another opportunity to get his first NHL victory under his belt on Wednesday night.
Alternate captain John Tavares, who was drafted first overall by the New York Islanders in 2009, reminded the gathered crowd that McKenna has plenty of runway and has already shown improvement throughout the truncated preseason.
“You take a moment or two to soak it in,” Tavares said. “You’ve got to get in the flow of the game and get the competitive juices going. You’ve just got to compete and realize that, in some ways, it’s just like when you’re a kid and you just get to go out there and play and now, you know, you’re playing in the best league in the world against the best players, and it’s really special to be seeing the uniforms that you’re wearing or that you’re playing against, and what all that means. But you’ve got to get in the flow of it, of competing, just like in whatever level you’re at, whether it’s minor hockey to junior amateur to obviously now pros. But he was great, and I think he showed from preseason game one to two the progress he made, and I think that’s part of the journey when you start, especially when you’re 18 years old.”
Throughout his junior career, McKenna was consistently a top performer despite often being the youngest player on his team.
After being drafted by the Medicine Hat Tigers with the first overall pick in the 2022 WHL Prospects Draft, the Whitehorse phenom netted four assists in his WHL debut.
McKenna won the Jim Piggott Memorial Trophy as WHL Rookie of the Year after a 97-point (34G-63A) campaign in 2023-24.
He erupted for 41 goals and 88 assists for 129 points in 56 games in 2024-25 before marching to the WHL Championship Series that spring.
The Tabbies alternate captain logged 38 points (9G-29A) in 16 playoff contests to hoist the Ed Chynoweth Cup and march on to the Memorial Cup Final.
McKenna was named the WHL and CHL Player of the Year, while making the WHL East Division First All-Star Team, CHL First All-Star Team and Memorial Cup All-Star Team.
Now, he looks to show the playmaking flash that made him a WHL superstar as the Maple Leafs host OHL graduate and 2025 NHL Rookie of the Year Matthew Schaefer and the New York Islanders at 5:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday, September 30.
