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You need to be a fairly diehard hockey fan to be familiar with Gavin McKenna, the prospect who’s expected to be the first overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft. He’s already made a name for himself in the WHL, and a shorthanded goal he scored in a recent game encapsulates why he’s surrounded by so much hype.
The term “generational talent” has lost a bit of its luster due to how frequently it gets thrown around in virtually every sport. With that said, it’s hard not to be intrigued by players who possess the kind of skills you need to get tagged with that term and have what it takes to make an immediate impact on whatever team is lucky enough to add them to their roster.
We should theoretically have to wait a while for the NHL to welcome its next generational talent when you consider Connor Bedard was the first member of Gen Z to check that box prior to being scooped up by the Blackhawks, and while Gavin McKenna hasn’t generated the same amount of excitement, he’s certainly on the right track.
The 17-year-old Canadian is a Yukon native who was selected by the Medicine Hat Tigers with the first overall pick in the 2022 WHL Draft and has more than lived up to the hype since arriving.
Last season, he scored 34 goals and posted 97 points in the 61 games he played, and he outdid himself this year while leading the Tigers to the playoffs by upping those numbers to 41 and 129 in 56 regular season contests.
McKenna’s squad dispatched the Swift Current Broncos in the first round of the postseason to earn the right to face off against the Prince Albert Raiders in the second, and the Tigers currently have a 2-0 lead in the series after getting the 5-4 win in overtime on Sunday.
McKenna was responsible for two of those goals, and one of them stood out much more than the other courtesy of the deke he deployed while the Raiders were on the power play to shake off a defender by stopping on a dime before turning back to the net and sniping the puck past the goaltender who was unable to stop the shorthanded tally that gave the Tigers a 2-0 lead midway through the second period.
🎥HIGHLIGHT OF THE NIGHT🎥
Gavin breaks the internet.@tigershockey | #WHLPlayoffs | #WHLHoN | #FeedingtheFuture pic.twitter.com/eK3pPFbHdl
— Western Hockey League (@TheWHL) April 14, 2025
McKenna won’t be eligible for the NHL Draft until next year, and one team is going to be very lucky to get him.