CALGARY -- Gavin McKenna is currently the front-runner to be the top pick in the 2026 NHL Draft, but the 16-year-old forward isn't in any rush to get there just yet.
McKenna, who was named the Canadian Hockey League Rookie of the Year last season, is taking a calm, patient approach to the nearly two-year wait ahead.
"I'm kind of lucky to get an opportunity to have another year before getting drafted," McKenna told NHL.com. "I've got to take advantage of it and make sure that I'm working my all every single day, not taking it easy because I have time but making sure I'm putting in the work every single day so I'm ready when it does come."
It's easy to see why the hockey world has been buzzing about the left wing from Whitehorse, Yukon. McKenna (5-foot-11, 160 pounds) had 97 points (34 goals, 63 assists) in 61 games for Medicine Hat of the Western Hockey League in 2023-24.
He also had 20 points (10 goals, 10 assists) in seven games at the 2024 IIHF U18 World Championship -- the most productive tournament ever by a 16-year-old skater, and the third-most points in a single tournament regardless of age behind top 2025 draft prospect James Hagens (22 points, 2024) and Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov (21 points, 2011).
"[McKenna]'s a slimy guy," said defenseman Matthew Schaefer, a top prospect for the 2025 draft and teammates with McKenna at both the U18 World Championship and upcoming 2024 Hlinka Gretzky Cup in Edmonton from Aug. 5-10. "His hands and his feet work together pretty quick. You can't get caught looking at the puck or you're done. He's a great player. He's very deceptive. You never know where he's going to go."
The accolades through his brief career, which also include a Jim Piggott Trophy as the WHL Rookie of the Year in 2023-24 and Canadian Sport School Hockey League (CSSHL) most valuable player nod in 2022-23, can back up Schaefer's assertion.
But McKenna, a self-described "shifty playmaker who likes to play with a lot of speed," isn't about to let attention and speculation get to his head.
"I think my parents raised me pretty good," McKenna said. "They taught me how to avoid that stuff. When you're in the rink playing that sport you love every day it gets shut out by itself. You don't think about it. You're just playing. Obviously stuff online, you avoid that stuff. Sometimes it's hard, but if you're just focusing on yourself and not letting it get to you that's the key."
That doesn't mean it wouldn't be significant for McKenna to join the likes of Connor Bedard and Connor McDavid as No. 1 picks, however.
It remains an opportunity he relishes.
"It'd be awesome," McKenna said. "It's something I've worked towards my whole life so if I get that opportunity to have that happen my family will be super proud, I'd be super proud, and it'd be an amazing moment for my family and myself to know I'm one step closer and my goal has been checked off. That'd be amazing."
That's the long-term goal for McKenna, the No. 1 pick in the 2022 Bantam Draft.
There are a few shorter-term items to check off well before that, including adding a gold medal from the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, where he was one of 22 skaters named to represent Canada on Tuesday.
Another appearance with Canada, this time at the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship in Ottawa from Dec. 26-Jan. 5, would be on his list, too.
"A goal is to play in the World Juniors and play for my country," McKenna said. "That's a lifelong dream of mine. To hopefully have that come true, that's going to be a big thing for me and that's going to be motivating me all year."
A WHL championship in the spring would all but complete his checklist, too.
After that, perhaps, McKenna will finally turn his attention to the 2026 draft.
“You just kind of want to stay calm and really just block that stuff out and avoid it because at the end of the day none of that means anything," McKenna said. "It's about how hard you're working and when the time comes it's about where you're getting drafted. You just focus on yourself and work every single day to get better."
