Franchise-Altering: Gavin McKenna steals the NHL draft lottery spotlight as he draws comparisons to Patrick Kane
Tonight, on May 5, the NHL will host the draft lottery in Secaucus, NJ. Organizations that didn’t make the Stanley Cup Playoffs will have the opportunity to rise in the draft rankings by winning the lottery, but only one team will be handed the honors to possibly select Gavin McKenna.
Franchise-Altering: Gavin McKenna steals the NHL draft lottery spotlight as he draws comparisons to Patrick Kane originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here . Ahead of tonight’s NHL Draft Lottery, the spotlight is shining brightest on Gavin McKenna.
Names like Matthew Schaefer, Macklin Celebrini, and Connor Bedard are thrown around as potential comparables to the Whitehorse native. However, McKenna doesn’t clearly resemble any of the above, and that’s OK. As we peel back his history, we discover that McKenna’s offensive style is reminiscent of Patrick Kane or even Nikita Kucherov , whom McKenna has previously stated he models his game after.
But look at the similar junior stat lines between Kane and McKenna. Both players dominated offensively from the wing during their CHL careers. During his monster 2024-25 season with the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers, McKenna racked up 129 points (41 goals and 88 assists) in 56 games, winning WHL and CHL player of the year, while also winning a WHL Championship.
McKenna and the Tigers went on to lose in the Memorial Cup finals, where he posted three goals and six points in four games. As for Kane, he notched 62 goals and 145 points in 58 games with the London Knights in the OHL, going on to be drafted first overall by the Chicago Blackhawks in 2007. Now, 19 years later, the Blackhawks have the second-best odds of winning the first overall pick in tonight’s draft lottery.
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