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<\/p>\nBUFFALO, N.Y. \u2014 It was a moment that Gavin McKenna will probably never forget.<\/p>\n
Justin Bieber, decked out in a red Team Canada jacket, striding up to the draft stage at KeyBank Center to welcome him \u2014 \u201cMr. McKenna\u201d \u2014 to the Leafs while Bieber\u2019s song \u201cYukon\u201d strummed in the background.<\/p>\n
The welcomes kept coming.<\/p>\n
Moments after he pulled on a blue Leafs jersey with the No. 26 on the back, McKenna stood next to Bieber as the pop star and Leafs super fan threw to a video message, this one from the captain of the Leafs, Auston Matthews, drafted No. 1 overall himself in the very same building 10 years earlier.<\/p>\n
As predicted, Gavin McKenna goes No. 1<\/p>\n
The Athletic Hockey Show<\/p>\n
\u201cGavin\u201d chants erupted from the large contingent of Leafs fans in attendance.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis isn\u2019t what I imagined as a young kid,\u201d said McKenna, grinning constantly, a short while later. \u201cIt\u2019s so much better.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was a rapturous introduction to the Leafs for someone who may end up changing the franchise.<\/p>\n
McKenna is the unexpected grand prize for one of the most disappointing and chaotic seasons in franchise history; one that started with the team hoping to contend for a Stanley Cup but ended instead with the first playoff miss in the Matthews era and the firings of general manager Brad Treliving and head coach Craig Berube.<\/p>\n
McKenna gives the Leafs a major shot of hope, for today and tomorrow.<\/p>\n
How much he can impact a team with playoff aspirations next season as a teenager is a great unknown at this point.<\/p>\n
The jump to the NHL is significant for any rookie, let alone one as small and light, if exceptionally skilled, as the 5-foot-11, 170-pound McKenna.<\/p>\n
A similarly sized Jack Hughes, the top pick in the 2019 draft, managed only seven goals and 21 points in 61 games as an 18-year-old for the New Jersey Devils before eventually blossoming into the star who scored the gold medal-winning goal for Team USA at the 2026 Olympics.<\/p>\n
Unlike Hughes, who joined a mediocre Devils team led in scoring by Kyle Palmieri\u2019s 45 points, McKenna comes aboard a veteran Leafs squad that boasts a reasonably deep well of talent that should include Matthews, William Nylander, Darren Raddysh, Jake McCabe, John Tavares and Chris Tanev, among others.<\/p>\n
Hughes\u2019 most frequent linemates as a rookie were Palmieri and a past-his-prime Wayne Simmonds.<\/p>\n
McKenna could get a chance to play with Matthews right away and throw alley-oops to one of the league\u2019s top goal scorers.<\/p>\n
He wasn\u2019t shying away from that kind of opportunity either, calling it his goal to play with \u201cmy captain.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m gonna have to prove myself to be able to play with a player like that,\u201d McKenna said. \u201cI think my game is obviously a playmaker. He\u2019s a shooter. I think we can complement each other pretty well.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\n Justin Bieber, right, was on hand to announce Gavin McKenna as the No. 1 pick. (Bruce Bennett \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
He might get an immediate shot, too, to bring some of his playmaking dynamism to a puffed up No. 1 power-play unit that figures to feature Matthews, Nylander and the big blast of Raddysh at the point.<\/p>\n
The last two No. 1 overall picks, Matthew Schaefer and Macklin Celebrini, both popped right away for the Islanders and Sharks.<\/p>\n
Matthews did too, of course, shattering any and all expectations with a franchise rookie record 69 points (including 40 goals, another Leafs rookie record) during his mesmerizing 2016-17 debut season.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s unlikely that McKenna scales those heights next season, but it wouldn\u2019t be so surprising to see him deliver something like the 61 points that Mitch Marner and Nylander both managed as rookies.<\/p>\n
Which would benefit the Leafs tremendously, on the ice and off it.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not often, if ever, that contenders, or teams that aspire to be contenders, get the chance to drop the No. 1 pick onto their roster.<\/p>\n
Matthews, Marner and Nylander famously delivered on entry-level contracts. And that\u2019s another potential bonus of injecting McKenna onto this particular Leafs team, desperate to contend again next season: If he takes off right away \u2014 or even in years two and three of his ELC \u2014 the Leafs will have a player who is outperforming his contract, perhaps greatly depending on how quickly McKenna adjusts to the bigger, stronger, faster and more talented players he\u2019ll face in the NHL.<\/p>\n
The better he is, the better the value.<\/p>\n
With that in mind, GM John Chayka can afford to overspend a little elsewhere on the roster. Opting not to show his hand before the draft, Chayka described the Leafs\u2019 choice at No. 1 as \u201cunanimous\u201d internally.<\/p>\n
The Leafs GM said there was a \u201creal resolve around who he is and what his career means to him and his family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whatever McKenna gives the Leafs in the short term is gravy on top of the long-term promise and flexibility he offers for the uncertain road ahead.<\/p>\n
McKenna is a boon to a Leafs\u2019 team that\u2019s retooling or rebuilding.<\/p>\n
If things go well next season, and Matthews decides to extend his contract next summer, the Leafs have a young sidekick for him and Nylander, and eventually, a successor as face of the franchise.<\/p>\n
If, on the other hand, things don\u2019t go well again next season, and the Leafs have to begin a rebuild by trading away Matthews and Nylander, McKenna figures to be the player they can and will build around.<\/p>\n
He is perhaps the only player on the roster who feels like a sure thing to be a Leaf beyond next season.<\/p>\n
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\n Many Leafs fans made the short trip to Buffalo to see Gavin McKenna become the first overall pick. (Bruce Bennett \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not hyperbole to suggest that winning the lottery, improbable as it was, could go down as one of the most important developments of the last 25 years for the Leafs \u2014 and franchise history, potentially, if McKenna morphs into a superstar.<\/p>\n
He represents a massive turn in fortune. The pick was shaping up to be a source of regret to the Leafs, thanks to a 2025 trade deadline deal for Brandon Carlo, which had gone astray.<\/p>\n
Had the pick not landed in the top five of the 2026 first round, the selection would have been sent to the rival Boston Bruins, on top of rising young centre Fraser Minten.<\/p>\n
That they didn\u2019t just keep the pick, but won the lottery outright, despite only 8.5 percent odds, was a remarkable stroke of luck.<\/p>\n
The Leafs will still pay a price for that deal, and the other one completed at that same deadline for Scott Laughton. The Flyers and Bruins now own the Leafs\u2019 top picks in 2027 and 2028.<\/p>\n
But at least they get McKenna, only the third player in more than 100 years of history that the Leafs have ever picked first overall, and the first since Matthews was selected a decade ago.<\/p>\n
The Leafs were just starting something back then.<\/p>\n
After selecting Nylander and Marner in 2014 and 2015, the Leafs, with Brendan Shanahan as the architect, were intentionally bad in the 2015-16 season that led to the lottery win that landed Matthews.<\/p>\n
Matthews joined a young and exciting team that was definitively on the rise.<\/p>\n
McKenna comes aboard as the Leafs are trying to hold onto something \u2014 to Matthews, of course, and the chance of competing again for the playoffs and Stanley Cup in the near future.<\/p>\n
There will be immense pressure on McKenna regardless. He\u2019s been followed closely for years, of course, as a projected top prospect.<\/p>\n