The worst-kept secret in hockey came to fruition on Friday night, with the Toronto Maple Leafs officially selecting Gavin McKenna with the first overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft.

McKenna has been the consensus number-one pick in this draft for most scouts, and despite some late competition from players like Ivar Stenberg and Chase Reid, the Maple Leafs opted to go with the household name at first overall. The Whitehorse native spent this season with Penn State, recording 51 points in 35 games in his freshman season after torching the WHL the season before, finishing with 129 points in 56 games in 2024-25.

The fact that the Maple Leafs are even in this situation is hard to believe, but after a nosedive of a 2025-26 season under Brad Treliving and Craig Berube, the Leafs opted to clean house after finishing with the fifth-worst record in the NHL and got the luckiest of bounces on the night of the draft lottery. Had the Maple Leafs not won the lottery, there was an extremely real chance that the Boston Bruins would end up with their first-round pick, after the top-5 protected pick was sent in a package for Brandon Carlo at last season’s trade deadline. It was a stroke of luck that made an excruciating season worth it for the fanbase.

Justin Bieber was on hand in Buffalo to announce the pick.

New general manager John Chayka spoke to media on Thursday and naturally wouldn’t reveal anything about their draft strategy, but revealed to reporters that the team had made their decision on who the pick would be and that it was unanimous throughout the organization.

“At the end of the day, there’s a lot of conviction. I’d say it’s unanimous,” Chayka said. “I think through the process we want to make sure that we thought about it in all the different ways possible…at the end of the day it was straight forward.”

Fresh off of acquiring arguably the top player of this season’s free agent class in Darren Raddysh, the Maple Leafs now add a future star playmaker to lead the next generation of players including the likes of Easton Cowan and Ben Danford. The addition of McKenna to the organization instantly extends the Maple Leafs’ contention window and ensures a fresh young talent to lead them through the next chapter of the current era.