Penn State Professional Athletes

The Rookie the NHL Can't Stop Watching

Penn State's Gavin McKenna arrived in the NHL as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 Draft with expectations the size of the CN Tower. Through the week of October 18–24, he's been doing his best to clear them.

The centerpiece moment came Monday, October 19, when McKenna scored a power-play goal — a slick dangle in tight followed by a precise finish — to give Toronto the lead in a 3-1 win over the San Jose Sharks. The goal marked history: McKenna became one of the youngest players to score a power-play goal for the Maple Leafs at 18 years old. Auston Matthews added a goal of his own, but it was McKenna's clutch strike that swung the game and sent the Leafs out of a three-game skid.

The storyline had extra texture. Monday also served as the first NHL meeting between McKenna and No. 2 overall pick Ivar Stenberg of the Sharks, a draft-class rivalry the league has been building toward since June. McKenna downplayed the individual angle beforehand — "it's Leafs vs. Sharks," he said — but his game-winning goal did the talking. Stenberg, for his part, revealed ahead of the game that he hadn't felt genuine interest from Toronto in pre-draft meetings, making McKenna's performance an inadvertent punctuation mark on the Leafs' selection.

The Odd Dichotomy — History, Then the Bench

The milestone didn't come without complications. After scoring the historic power-play goal, McKenna was benched for more than half of the third period — a reminder that head coach Jim Hiller is managing his rookie's minutes deliberately, regardless of the occasion. Hiller has praised McKenna's "quiet confidence" and called him "unflappable," but that hasn't translated into unchecked ice time. The tension between McKenna's upside and his careful deployment is one of the more fascinating subplots of Toronto's early season.

It hasn't rattled the 18-year-old. Two days later, on October 20, the Leafs routed the Columbus Blue Jackets 6-2, with McKenna contributing alongside Easton Cowan and Matthews in what became a showcase game for Toronto's young core. McKenna then picked up an assist in a 5-4 win over the Rangers on October 22, though he finished at minus-1 as Toronto's defense showed some cracks. He capped the week with another assist in a dominant 7-2 blowout of the Oilers on October 24 — a game that gave McKenna his first look at Connor McDavid at the NHL level. He'd said beforehand he hoped the team could "shut him down," an endearingly competitive remark from a player still learning the pro game.

The Bigger Picture

Through the week, McKenna tallied one goal and three assists across four games, all Maple Leafs wins. The early returns have been enough for Matthews to publicly vouch for his rookie teammate — high praise from a franchise player who knows what it takes to carry the weight of Toronto's expectations. The Hockey News captured the room's sentiment neatly: not a lot of players can get benched one night and score one of their team's biggest goals of the season in less than a week. McKenna is already proving he's not a lot of players.

For Penn State fans tracking their alum through his first NHL season, this was a week to bookmark. The history is already being made.

Penn State's most prominent NHL alumnus is already must-watch television — for better and for worse.

Gavin McKenna, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft and Toronto's most-hyped rookie in years, delivered a historically promising start before running headlong into his first real test: a benching that turned into one of the league's biggest talking points of the young season.

The Record

McKenna opened the week by cementing his place in Maple Leafs history. His assist on William Nylander's second-period goal against the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday, Oct. 11, made the 18-year-old the first teenager to record points in three consecutive games for Toronto since 1984 — a 42-year franchise record. The moment underscored what the betting markets already reflected: McKenna is the current favorite to win the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL's top rookie.

The Benching

Then came Thursday in Toronto against Buffalo — and the mood shifted fast.

With the Maple Leafs holding a 4-2 lead over the Sabres and McKenna on the ice, head coach Jim Hiller pulled his prized rookie for the entirety of the second period and overtime. Toronto ultimately surrendered the lead and lost 5-4 in OT, a collapse made all the more painful given that its most-hyped forward was watching from the bench. McKenna finished the game at minus-1.

Hiller's post-game explanation was widely panned. The coach cited penalties and long gaps between McKenna's shifts as contributing factors, and acknowledged — in a quote that became the night's defining sound bite — "probably should've got him out there." Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman called the decision a mistake outright while noting that Hiller's willingness to take accountability was at least a step in the right direction. The Hockey News went further, calling it Hiller's first significant misstep as Toronto's head coach. Longtime Leafs broadcaster Joe Bowen, in one of his final media appearances before retirement, described the benching simply as "puzzling."

McKenna, for his part, handled the scrutiny with composure. Speaking to reporters ahead of Friday's game against the New York Islanders, the 18-year-old said he's focused on his next shift — a measured response that drew praise given the spotlight bearing down on him.

The Bigger Picture

The benching is one piece of a more complicated early-season dynamic for McKenna. He had been playing on Toronto's top power-play unit during John Tavares' absence, generating discussion about whether he'd earned a permanent spot there. When Tavares returned, Hiller moved McKenna back to the second unit — a decision the coach called straightforward given Tavares' track record. That conversation has since been overtaken by the benching fallout.

What's clear is that McKenna's arrival — alongside fellow youngster Easton Cowan — has already changed the texture of the Maple Leafs' offense. Friedman noted this week that Toronto is moving the puck cleaner than it did a season ago, and pointed directly to the two rookies as the reason why.

For Penn State fans tracking McKenna's progress: the record, the benching, the power-play debate, and the Calder chatter all arrived in the same seven-day stretch. It's Week 1. Buckle up.