{"id":486817,"date":"2026-02-24T02:59:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T02:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/486817\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T02:59:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T02:59:11","slug":"mckenna-thomas-sundqvist-pro-hockey-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/486817\/","title":{"rendered":"McKenna, Thomas, Sundqvist \u2013 Pro Hockey Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been a whirlwind few weeks for top 2026 draft prospect Gavin McKenna<\/a>. He began the month with some legal trouble as he was arrested<\/a>, but later returned to the ice and scored eight points in a single game against Ohio State. McKenna\u2019s season has been subject to quite a bit of conversation, with many speculating that the Canadian winger, who had long been considered this year\u2019s top draft prospect, might be losing his grip<\/a> on his status as the presumptive No. 1 overall pick. It\u2019s unclear how the events of the past month \u2013 both the legal issue and the uptick in production \u2013 will impact McKenna\u2019s draft stock, but at least one team appears to now hold an improved view of the player. Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times reported today<\/a> that the Chicago Blackhawks \u201chave noticed McKenna improving his all-around game,\u201d and that \u201cthey were skeptical about him earlier this season,\u201d but \u201cthat\u2019s no longer the case.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition, Pope reports that McKenna\u2019s \u201cfelony charge is unlikely to affect his NHL draft stock now that it has been dropped.\u201d Whether the Blackhawks will be in a position to draft McKenna is, of course, not clear at this time. They are No. 27 in the league standings, and would likely need some lottery luck to have a shot at McKenna. Regarding other options for their top draft choice, Pope noted that the Blackhawks \u201chave also long been interested in Canadian center Tynan Lawrence<\/a>,\u201d who is widely ranked as one of the top centers in this year\u2019s class. While Pope\u2019s reporting only relates to one team, it does shed some light on how other NHL scouts might view McKenna given the events of the past month, assuming the Blackhawks are not alone in their reported view of things.<\/p>\n

Other notes from the Central Division:<\/p>\n

St. Louis Blues center Robert Thomas<\/a> is one of the key names as the league rapidly approaches the trade deadline, with The Athletic\u2019s Chris Johnston listing him No. 5 on his trade board<\/a>. Complicating what would already be a complex trade to pull off is the recent injury suffered by Thomas. Jeremy Rutherford, Johnston\u2019s colleague at The Athletic<\/a>, relayed word from Blues head coach Jim Montgomery who said that Thomas underwent a \u201cminor leg procedure\u201d and currently has an unclear return timeline. Rutherford noted that Thomas did skate on Friday, but it remains unknown when Thomas will be fit to return in full. The 26-year-old center scored 21 goals and 81 points in 70 games last season and has 11 goals and 33 points in 42 games this year.
\nVeteran Blues winger Oskar Sundqvist<\/a> had a minor procedure during the Olympic break, reports Rutherford<\/a>. He skated alongside Thomas on Friday, but like his teammate, is currently dealing with an uncertain return timeline. The 31-year-old veteran has 14 points in 43 games this season and when healthy is a regular bottom-six contributor for the Blues, including on both sides of special teams.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s been a whirlwind few weeks for top 2026 draft prospect Gavin McKenna. He began the month with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":486818,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[4824,110964,385,27490,27493,99,1610],"class_list":{"0":"post-486817","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-chicago-blackhawks","9":"tag-gavin-mckenna","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-oskar-sundqvist","12":"tag-robert-thomas","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-st-louis-blues"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486817\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/486818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}