Penn State's Gavin McKenna selected No. 1 overall in 2026 NHL draft

· Yahoo Sports

Penn State hockey history was officially made on Friday night in Buffalo, New York. Gavin McKenna, fresh off his stellar freshman season with the Penn State hockey team, was selected as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NHL Entry Draft by the Toronto Maple Leafs. McKenna is the first No. 1 overall pick for the Penn State hockey program.

McKenna had widely been expected to be one of the first picks in this year's entry draft after coming to Penn State as the top-rated draft prospect. With Toronto holding the top pick in the draft, it was expected the Maple Leafs would draft the Canadian native to trade in one shade of blue and white for another.

Visit newsbetting.club for more information.

McKenna will join another former first overall pick with the Maple Leafs, Auston Matthews, who provided a video welcome message to his newest teammate on Friday evening. McKenna was congratulated on stage in Buffalo by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and pop star Justin Bieber, who announced the draft pick for the Maple Leafs.

McKenna was destined to be the top pick of the NHL draft, and he lived up to the hype as a freshman with the Nittany Lions. McKenna leaves Penn State for the NHL with the program record for points (8) and assists (7) in a single game and was named a second-team All-American and Big Ten Freshman of the Year. McKenna also claimed a Penn State record of 36 assists.

McKenna was the only player from the Big Ten selected in the first round of the entry draft. The draft will continue on Saturday with the second through seventh rounds.

Kevin McGuire is the lead writer for Nittany Lions Wire, part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow him on BlueSky, Threads or any of these other platforms.

Follow Nittany Lions Wire on X and Facebook.

This article originally appeared on Nittany Lions Wire: Penn State's Gavin McKenna selected No. 1 overall in 2026 NHL draft

Read full story at source