Gavin McKenna now operates as the Toronto Maple Leafs’ most important player, after being selected first overall in the 2026 NHL Draft. It’s imperative for the Maple Leafs to ease his transition into the hockey capital of the world. And there’s a distinct possibility the Maple Leafs could pursue McKenna’s hero, who also serves as a direct player comparable.

“I didn’t get too many wild ones, but Patrick Kane texted me. He’s my idol, so that was cool,” McKenna said Saturday, during his introduction to Leafs media at the Ford Performance Centre. “He’s who I grew up watching. I don’t know if it was all the YouTube highlights that made me play like him, but he’s someone I’ve always watched, just how creative he is and how smart he is, someone who has just rubbed off on me, I guess.”

McKenna drew comparisons to Kane leading up to the draft, and there are several commonalities. Both players were prodigious offensive talents at the major junior level, with top marks for hockey intelligence, puck skills and change of pace. Although Kane is well past the prime of his career, his resume speaks for itself as one of the best players of his generation. Kane would be a ready-made top-six winger for the Maple Leafs, on a relatively affordable contract, even amid a depressed free agent class, where the scarcity of quality players could cause some July 1 inflation.

With flexibility and optionality, this may be the time for Maple Leafs GM John Chayka to strike on a known quantity, with championship pedigree. It’s a unique proposition, as Auston Matthews and John Tavares were also first overall picks, and unlike Kane, they were both the best players in their draft class for as long as they were publicly scouted, which is certainly also true of McKenna. Adding a 57-point winger on a cost-effective deal is always a decent bet, especially if he’s the idol of your new franchise player.

Kane is ranked as the 11th-best free agent on Daily Faceoff’s board. Here’s what Daily Faceoff’s Matt Larkin wrote about Kane, ahead of free agency.

Pursuing Kane shouldn’t be Toronto’s primary measure to improve the roster, which sounds almost crazy to write, given his first-ballot Hall of Fame playing career. Toronto is armed with $20.9 million in cap space via PuckPedia, and can be judicious about how it intends to use it. Kane, along with a massive trade for Zach Werenski would constitute a genuine revival of the team’s win-now window, during a summer where the Atlantic Division has morphed into an outright arms race. And this is merely one path that the Maple Leafs can consider. Toronto has been rumoured to be in the mix for Mason Marchment, a player who posted a plus-20 differential and a 58.3 share of the expected goals at 5-on-5 in 39 games with the Blue Jackets last year.

There are many routes the Leafs can consider, and while Kane is a defensive liability, he still generates enough offence to be a net positive. We’re not going to purposely misinterpret the numbers here, but Kane did record a 52 percent share of the expected goals at 5-on-5 with the Red Wings last season. Staple him to Matthews, a defensively conscious superstar, and McKenna, a larger carbon copy 19 years Kane’s junior, and they can thrive. And in an era where the U.S. men’s Olympic team group chat is causing real consternation across the league about player agency, Toronto can posit itself as a destination, with Matthews and Kane, an avenue to potentially land Werenski in a blockbuster trade. Above all, it keeps McKenna happy, while he gets ready to become the franchise of the league’s most-watched franchise. It’s certainly worth a shot for the Maple Leafs.

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