Maple Leafs select Penn State
forward Gavin McKenna with the No. 1 pick in NHL draft
[June 27, 2026]
By JOHN WAWROW
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Gavin McKenna’s nerves finally eased when
lifetime Maple Leafs fan and international pop icon Justin Bieber
took the NHL draft stage to announce who Toronto was selecting No.
1.
“He was looking at me and I kind of was thinking, maybe,” McKenna
said with a laugh. “Crazy. Just crazy what’s going on right now.”
With most of Yukon watching and a loud presence of Maple Leafs fans
in the stands, Toronto chose the Penn State left winger, validating
longstanding projections of McKenna being his age group’s top
prospect. The 18-year-old from Yukon’s capital of Whitehorse has
been a prolific scorer on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border.
And if Bieber’s appearance and taking the stage to the artist's song
“Yukon” wasn’t enough, McKenna was welcomed to the Maple Leafs with
a video message from Toronto captain Auston Matthews.
“Obviously he’s on the first line. I’m going to have to prove myself
to be able to play with a player like that. But that’s my goal,”
McKenna said about Matthews, who was chosen No. 1 by Toronto in the
2016 draft, which also happened to be held in Buffalo. “My game’s
obviously a playmaker, he’s a shooter, so I think we could
complement each other pretty well.”
McKenna represents a major plank in in a rebuilding process for a
team in transition under new general manager John Chayka. Toronto
finished last in the Atlantic Division last season and missed the
playoffs for the first time since Matthews’ arrival.
Canucks select coach's son, Caleb Malhotra
The draft featured dueling cheers — and boos — between large
contingents of Maple Leafs and Sabres fans, several surprises, nine
trades and a poignant father-son moment when Vancouver selected
center Caleb Malhotra with the No. 3 pick, joining a team coached by
dad Manny Malhotra.
“I hugged him right after, and we were happy,” said Caleb, who is
from British Columbia and finished second among OHL rookies with 84
points with Brantford last season. “It’s the best feeling in the
world. I’ve never felt anything like this. And that embrace was so
comforting, and I’m so glad he’s here with me as dad.”
Malhotra said his dad was not aware of the Canucks’ draft plans. And
he now has bragging rights on his father in being selected four
spots higher, after Manny went No. 7 to the New York Rangers in
1998.
Run on defensemen
After forwards went with the first three picks, including Sweden’s
Ivar Stenberg second to San Jose, the expected run on defensemen
began with five selected over the next six picks, and 10 overall.
Buffalo selected Prince Albert blue-liner Daxon Rudolph at No. 4,
followed by Latvia’s Alberts Smits going fifth to the Rangers. Chase
Reid, who is from Michigan, went seventh to Seattle as the first
American-born player selected.
Smits split last season playing professionally in Finland and
Germany, while also representing Latvia at the Milan Cortina
Olympics. He became the highest drafted Latvian.
Trades and more trades
This was a much more active first round with picks traded for NHL
players than the previous couple of years. The Rangers got Pavel
Dorofeyev from Vegas for picks 26 and 92, and a 2028 first-rounder.
Boston acquired JJ Peterka from Utah for a pair of first-rounders.
And St. Louis traded two of its picks to Anaheim for Mason McTavish.
[to top of second column] |
Gavin McKenna, center, stands with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman,
left, and singer Justin Bieber, right, after being drafted by the
Toronto Maple Leafs during the NHL hockey draft Friday, June 26,
2026, in Buffalo, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)
The selections featured an international flavor
with 10 Canadians, a first-round-record seven Swedes and seven
Americans chosen. The first round ended with Ottawa selecting
forward Jaxon Cover, who was born in Miami, raised on Grand Cayman
where he played roller hockey, and developed his hockey skills in
Toronto.
And Bieber wasn't the only music star to make a pick, with country
music's Luke Bryan on hand to announce Nashville's selection of
Wyatt Cullen before performing a concert a few blocks away.
Rudolph was wowed watching his good friend McKenna being welcomed to
the stage.
“To see him be selected first and with Justin
Bieber and everything, it was amazing,” Rudolph said. “I just
remember talking to my mom and saying. ‘Wow, this is so cool,’ as
I’m sitting there on the couch waiting to be picked.”
McKenna accustomed to the spotlight
McKenna is accustomed to the spotlight. He combined for 79 goals and
244 points in 133 games with Medicine Hat in the WHL. As a freshman
at Penn State, he finished with 51 points, tied for fourth in the
nation, last season.
He became just the fifth NCAA player to go first, and third in six
years, since Michigan defenseman Owen Power went No. 1 to Buffalo in
2021.
McKenna also became the fifth Yukon-born player to be selected in
the draft, and first to go No. 1. He now heads to a metropolis that
is nearly 100 times larger than Whitehorse’s population of about
39,000.
This was the NHL’s second straight decentralized draft, with teams
making selections from their respective headquarters.
Decentralized draft Part II
Lacking in the new format is each draft pick joining his new team’s
front office on stage. Last year, the NHL attempted to rectify that
by having teams welcome their prospects by video conference call on
stage at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. The interviews were
widely panned for being awkward and glitchy, and contributing to the
draft lasting nearly 4 1/2 hours.
This year the NHL had the top prospects seated with their families
in what resembled a lounge area, featuring plush couches, directly
in front of the stage. After being selected, each player was
interviewed on a couch on stage, with the backdrop representing the
team in a first round that took about four hours to complete.
___
AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno and AP freelance writer Denis Gorman
contributed to this report.
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