It’s been a few weeks since we watched the New York Islanders jump up 10 spots to win the 2025 NHL Draft Lottery. It was the second biggest jump we’ve seen in NHL Draft Lottery history, behind only the New York Rangers, who rose 14 slots after winning a two-phase lottery in 2020. The Rangers, of course, went on to select Alexis Lafrenière with the first overall pick. But that was the Covid-19 season, which made things weird, so 2025 was the craziest normal setting lottery result in quite some time.
The Islanders will now get to add consensus top pick Matthew Schaefer to their organization… or James Hagens if they decide to go the hometown route. No matter who New York selects, they’re getting a franchise-building block that will be an integral part of their future. However, there’s no denying this isn’t the strongest draft class. There is no Macklin Celebrini or Connor Bedard like in previous years, and there certainly is no Gavin McKenna.
Whenever a generational talent comes around, fans often reference tanking for said prospect. That was not the case in 2025, but things will be much different in 2026.
17-year-old Gavin McKenna is the clear-cut number one prospect for next year’s 2026 NHL Draft. He’s coming off a ridiculous second season with the Medicine Hat Tigers of the WHL. He piled up 129 points (41 goals, 88 assists) in just 59 regular-season games and another 38 points (nine goals, 29 assists) in 16 playoff games, en route to a WHL Championship. Not to mention his 54-game point streak, which surpassed Alexander Radulov’s (50 games) for the longest in CHL history.
Check out some of this kid’s highlights:
Just an incredible skill set that has NHL general managers frothing at the mouth for the opportunity to draft him. Teams are never going to openly tank for a prospect, but if there’s ever a year to do it, this is it. McKenna has all the makings of a franchise-altering, generational talent. The only problem with tanking is that the lottery balls still may not fall in your favor, so it’s a dangerous game to play, but Gavin McKenna is worth doing anything to increase your percentage of landing that number one pick.
We’re still over a year away from the 2026 NHL Draft, but I think it’s already obvious which NHL teams need Gavin McKenna the most. So, let’s dive into it.
Honorable mention to the Philadelphia Flyers, who could use another cornerstone up front alongside Matvei Michkov. A young Canadian star and a young russian star would flip the script from what they’ve had to deal with when facing their Pennsylvania rivals over the last 20 years. Alright, now let’s narrow it down to the top three.
Chicago Blackhawks
The Chicago Blackhawks are an easy number one for me. They’ve been going through a lengthy rebuild over the last four years and thus far haven’t come close to turning the corner. General manager Kyle Davidson stripped the roster down to the studs, which makes it a long journey to get back even just into playoff contention.
Chicago hit the jackpot in 2023, landing the most highly touted prospect since Connor McDavid in Connor Bedard. Bedard looks like a star, but his lack of supporting cast has been painful to watch, and the Blackhawks remain one of the league’s worst two years later. It’s become clear that they can’t rely on Bedard to jumpstart the franchise on his own, and he desperately needs more talent to play with up front.
The Hawks have done a nice job loading up their blue line in recent years. Kevin Korchinski (7th overall, 2022), Artyom Levshunov (2nd overall, 2024), Sam Rinzel (25th overall, 2022), and Alex Vlasic (43rd overall, 2019) form one of, if not the best, young up-and-coming defense cores in hockey. Now they need to improve the forward group. Bedard is a fantastic start, and guys like Oliver Moore and Frank Nazar are nice surrounding pieces, but Chicago needs to find him a sidekick.
Who better than Gavin McKenna? McKenna just so happens to be Bedard’s cousin by marriage, so they’re certainly familiar with each other. The thought of this duo for the next decade-plus is a scary proposition for the rest of the league. It would create a two-headed monster down in the Windy City, with a Crosby-Malkin, McDavid-Draisaitl feel to it. The lefty-righty combination could be dynamic in all phases of the game, and it’s hard to fathom a world where this potential 1-2 punch wouldn’t dominate the NHL.
Winning the Gavin McKenna sweepstakes might not make the Chicago Blackhawks an immediate contender. But we saw it in Pittsburgh and Edmonton; it’s hard to hold the generational talents at the bottom for long. There’s no better or quicker way to bring playoff hockey and eventually Stanley Cup championships back to the Windy City than this.
Pittsburgh Penguins
From the Windy City to the Steel City. The Pittsburgh Penguins are in an awkward stage of their rebuild/retool… or whatever Kyle Dubas wants to call it. After going all-in upon taking over as the general manager in Pittsburgh, Dubas has backpedaled in the year and a half to follow, shifting his focus to acquiring young players, prospects, and draft picks.
Longtime Penguins Jake Guentzel, Marcus Pettersson, and, most recently, head coach Mike Sullivan have all been shipped out of town. Those moves have the feel of a rebuild, but Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Erik Karlsson, and Kris Letang are still around, so it’s almost impossible to truly bottom out. Crosby has been adamant in his stance of remaining a Penguin for life, and as long as he’s still playing, the team is going to stay somewhat competitive.
Dubas has quietly done a nice job adding draft capital and replenishing the prospect pool throughout his time in Pittsburgh. The Pens currently have 18 picks in the first three rounds over the next three years (four 1sts, six 2nds, and eight 3rds), which is the most of any team in the league. Meanwhile, prospects Ville Koivunen, Rutger McGroarty, Owen Pickering, and Harrison Brunicke could all start making an impact at the NHL level in 2025-26, along with Joel Blomqvist and Sergei Murashov emerging as strong prospects in goal.
What’s lacking is a blue chipper. The Penguins have accumulated plenty of quantity in draft picks and prospects, but at some point, they need more quality, and Gavin McKenna would certainly fall under the latter. They went from Lemieux to Crosby in 2005; how about Crosby to McKenna in 2026? The main difference is that Lemieux’s career was all but done when Sid came in, whereas Crosby looks like he could keep playing at a high level for years to come. What better way to inject more youth alongside their veteran stars looking to make a final run?
The Stanley Cup Playoffs are better with Sidney Crosby playing in them. Everyone wants to see Sid get at least one more chance to play in the postseason, and adding Gavin McKenna would go a long way towards that happening. Kyle Dubas has cautioned the fan base about winning in 2025-26, and you have to imagine that’s because of the crown jewel atop the 2026 draft board.
Buffalo Sabres
Lastly, we’ve got the Buffalo Sabres. 14 consecutive seasons of missing the playoffs… tied for the longest active postseason drought of any major league sports team, along with the New York Jets. Not the kind of company you want to be associated with. General manager Kevyn Adams’ seat is getting warmer, and if they miss again in 2025-26, there could be a change in the front office.
The Sabres possess plenty of talent and have first overall picks of their own in Rasmus Dahlin (2018) and Owen Power (2021). Pair that with Tage Thompson, Alex Tuch, JJ Peterka, and other young talent, and Buffalo should be much better than they are. But it just never comes to fruition. The Sabres either come hot out of the gates and then crumble or put themselves way behind the 8 ball and make a late-season push that’s too little, too late.
Buffalo fans know all too well that sometimes it’s just the luck of the draw and what year you win the NHL Draft Lottery. The Sabres did their very best to tank for Connor McDavid in 2015, finishing last in the league standings and earning a 20% chance at selecting first overall. Unfortunately, we all know that the fanbase had their hearts broken when the Edmonton Oilers leapfrogged both them and the Arizona Coyotes to land the man who is now the best player in the world. Jack Eichel was nothing to sneeze at with the second pick, but he’s just not Connor McDavid.
This organization has had tons of difficulty attracting players to come to Buffalo throughout the years of struggle. So the only way to acquire a potentially generational talent is through the draft. Plunk Gavin McKenna on an already solid Sabres roster, and playoff hockey would soon make a return to Buffalo for the first time since the 2011-12 season. It’s what this city and organization need to rejuvenate the team and the fan base. The Sabres have won the lottery before, but nothing would compare to doing it again in 2026.
Buffalo has the ninth overall pick in 2025, and it is hard to picture a scenario where they finish much lower than that next year. However, we just saw the New York Islanders hit the jackpot while holding only a 3% chance entering lottery night, so anything is possible. The Sabres will certainly be looking to win as they begin the 2025-26 campaign, but if things go sideways, they need to pivot and sell off pieces to give themselves the best possible shot at Gavin McKenna.
The Sports Outsider 
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