F Gavin McKenna - Medicine Hat Tigers, WHL (2026 Draft)

[CaviarAndRinkFries]

 

[Hockeyville USA]

42 GP, 88 PTS. 26 game point streak. Insane

 

[Nicko999]

42 GP, 88 PTS. 26 game point streak. Insane

Best D-1 season since Crosby.

 

[Thomas Sowell]

I want habs to start taking next step and to not stagnate. But it's awfully tempting when you have a player of this caliber coming up to just hope for a few guys to take the year off

 

[daver]

So what's the skinny on this guy?

He seems to ahead of Bedard statistically at the same age but not in goalscoring. Similar to Bedard, his statistical CHL comparables are Crosby and McDavid.

Unlike Bedard, his size seems to not be something to consider (not that Bedard's size is that big of a deal anyways).

Is he comparable stylistically to anyone?

 

[FourQuarters]

Bedard is one of the youngest prospect of 2023 draft class, McKenna will be one of the older prospect of 2026 draft class.

 

[daver]

Bedard is one of the youngest prospect of 2023 draft class, McKenna will be one of the older prospect of 2026 draft class.

Six months definitely can be significant at that age.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

So what's the skinny on this guy?

He seems to ahead of Bedard statistically at the same age but not in goalscoring. Similar to Bedard, his statistical CHL comparables are Crosby and McDavid.

Unlike Bedard, his size seems to not be something to consider (not that Bedard's size is that big of a deal anyways).

Is he comparable stylistically to anyone?

Like a combination of Kucherov and Marner. His size isn’t that big of a deal, but he’s probably still slightly undersized at this point. He’s a smaller winger, not that strong, isn’t a big defensive player, and plays a lot on the perimeter. That can be a very successful player. It’s also not the most popular player with NHL teams. Then again, if you project as one of the elite at that role in the NHL, that changes the equation. Most think McKenna will be that.

 

[newmanager]

So what's the skinny on this guy?

He seems to ahead of Bedard statistically at the same age but not in goalscoring. Similar to Bedard, his statistical CHL comparables are Crosby and McDavid.

Unlike Bedard, his size seems to not be something to consider (not that Bedard's size is that big of a deal anyways).

Is he comparable stylistically to anyone?

At the same age Bedard put up 71 goals and 72 assists in 57 games for a 2.52 ppg

McKenna is at 27 goals and 61 assists in 42 games for a 2.10 ppg

What a lot of people forget is McKenna is the same age as Misa (both 2007 birthdays) although he gets drafted a year later cause of his month of birth.

Just to put it into perspective:
With 3 years of WJC eligibility remaining Bedard scored 9 goals and 14 assists for 23 points in 7 games.
With 3 years of WJC eligibility remaining McKenna put up 1 goal and 0 assists for 1 point in 5 games.

McKenna is an awesome prospect and could surpass Bedard but I believe he’s behind Bedard at this age.

 

[VeteranPresence]

At the same age Bedard put up 71 goals and 72 assists in 57 games for a 2.52 ppg

That was Bedard's draft year though. McKenna isn't there yet, and his D-1 is tracking to be much, much better (2.10 PPG vs 1.61). The birth year stuff isn't really significant today because any gains in development/quality of comp would have taken place 3-4 years ago before major junior.

 

[newmanager]

That was Bedard's draft year though. McKenna isn't there yet, and his D-1 is tracking to be much, much better (2.10 PPG vs 1.61). The birth year stuff isn't really significant today because any gains in development/quality of comp would have taken place 3-4 years ago before major junior.

The September 15 cutoff date only pertains to the NHL draft and has no impact whatsoever on age groupings or development while these kids are growing up. When the WJC started and finished both Bedard (2023 WJC) and McKenna (2025 WJC) were 17 years old. When Bedards 2022/23 WHL season finished he was 17 years old. When McKenna's 2024/25 season finishes he'll be 17 years old. That's why we compare them by birth year.

 

[VeteranPresence]

The September 15 cutoff date only pertains to the NHL draft and has no impact whatsoever on age groupings or development while these kids are growing up.

And? Nobody is saying "But but Crosby was born in this month 37 years ago instead of this one". The closer it gets to a player's draft year the less this matters.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

So what's the skinny on this guy?

He seems to ahead of Bedard statistically at the same age but not in goalscoring. Similar to Bedard, his statistical CHL comparables are Crosby and McDavid.

Unlike Bedard, his size seems to not be something to consider (not that Bedard's size is that big of a deal anyways).

Is he comparable stylistically to anyone?

I see Kucherov whenever I watch him. Shifty and oozes hockey iq. I think he'll be better than Bedard and Celebrini.

 

[93LEAFS]

Six months definitely can be significant at that age.

The age gap on career expectations related to pre-nhl performance is grossly exaggerated for top prospects. Those guys are scouted for ages, and have generally played above their age group growing up. That divide historically never truly emerged until later in the first round. It mostly only is a scary proposition for players who break out in their draft year in their 18 year old season, specifically in the CHL. It's not a big deal when talking about prospects like Bedard or McKenna, just like it wasn't when we were talking about the 2016 draft where the two best players in the top 6 ended up being the two late-birthdays (Matthews and M. Tkachuk) against Laine, Puljujarvi and PLD.

 

[newmanager]

And? Nobody is saying "But but Crosby was born in this month 37 years ago instead of this one". The closer it gets to a player's draft year the less this matters.

Actually you're saying that. I compared their birth year exploits but you said we can't compare that cause McKenna is born in a particular month.

 

[Hale The Villain]

Bedard and McKenna both played U18 BC prep hockey at 14, got a cup of coffee at the WHL at 15, played their 16 and 17 year old seasons at the WHL level, and simply because of the September 15 NHL draft cutoff, which is designed to make sure NHL teams don't have minors playing for them (probably for legal purposes), McKenna will get an extra WHL season to develop before being drafted compared to Bedard.

If McKenna puts up Bedard-type numbers next year it would be extremely impressive for his future NHL prospects, but it wouldn't be as impressive as what Bedard did, considering he did it in his 17YR old development season (AKA the normal draft year for all prospects who aren't late-birthdays).

McKenna being 6 months younger than Bedard isn't nothing, as he may have a bit more room for physical growth (like a January birthday vs. a July birthday in the same year), but it's definitely not enough of a handicap to pretend McKenna isn't going to have an extra WHL season to development under his belt before being drafted, which typically means a significant jump in production.

Nevertheless, I can guarantee you people are going to uncritically compare the numbers put up by McKenna next season in his fourth WHL season (and 18YR old development year) to Bedard's third WHL season (and 17YR old development year) and act like it's an apples-to-apples comparison. It isn't.

 

[Hockeyville USA]

Bedard and McKenna both played U18 BC prep hockey at 14, got a cup of coffee at the WHL at 15, played their 16 and 17 year old seasons at the WHL level, and simply because of the September 15 NHL draft cutoff, which is designed to make sure NHL teams don't have minors playing for them (probably for legal purposes), McKenna will get an extra WHL season to develop before being drafted compared to Bedard.

If McKenna puts up Bedard-type numbers next year it would be extremely impressive for his future NHL prospects, but it wouldn't be as impressive as what Bedard did, considering he did it in his 17YR old development season (AKA the normal draft year for all prospects who aren't late-birthdays).

McKenna being 6 months younger than Bedard isn't nothing, as he may have a bit more room for physical growth (like a January birthday vs. a July birthday in the same year), but it's definitely not enough of a handicap to pretend McKenna isn't going to have an extra WHL season to development under his belt before being drafted, which typically means a significant jump in production.

Nevertheless, I can guarantee you people are going to uncritically compare the numbers put up by McKenna next season in his fourth WHL season (and 18YR old development year) to Bedard's third WHL season (and 17YR old development year) and act like it's an apples-to-apples comparison. It isn't.

The impressive thing about McKenna is that he's a December birthday who had to play against kids almost a year older than him in minor hockey growing up. And he overcame that pretty quickly to dominate. The extra year to stat pad prior to being drafted is worth noting, but not something I'll knock on him too much. He's been incredible regardless.

 

[Mathieukferland]

Bedard and McKenna both played U18 BC prep hockey at 14, got a cup of coffee at the WHL at 15, played their 16 and 17 year old seasons at the WHL level, and simply because of the September 15 NHL draft cutoff, which is designed to make sure NHL teams don't have minors playing for them (probably for legal purposes), McKenna will get an extra WHL season to develop before being drafted compared to Bedard.

If McKenna puts up Bedard-type numbers next year it would be extremely impressive for his future NHL prospects, but it wouldn't be as impressive as what Bedard did, considering he did it in his 17YR old development season (AKA the normal draft year for all prospects who aren't late-birthdays).

McKenna being 6 months younger than Bedard isn't nothing, as he may have a bit more room for physical growth (like a January birthday vs. a July birthday in the same year), but it's definitely not enough of a handicap to pretend McKenna isn't going to have an extra WHL season to development under his belt before being drafted, which typically means a significant jump in production.

Nevertheless, I can guarantee you people are going to uncritically compare the numbers put up by McKenna next season in his fourth WHL season (and 18YR old development year) to Bedard's third WHL season (and 17YR old development year) and act like it's an apples-to-apples comparison. It isn't.

I touched on this a few pages back, but comparing McKenna’s year 16 day 1 to year 16 day 365 production to Bedard and McDavid (I think given the variance in ages it’s the best way to do it), he actually outperformed both of them by a fairly large margin, all the whilst having the most games played at D-2 as a 16 year old:

McKenna 16 YO (D-2 35GP MH REGULAR SEASON, 5GP MH PLAYOFFS, 7GP U18, D-1 5 GP HG, 30GP MH REGULAR SEASON)

157P 82GP 1.91 PPG

Bédard 16 YO (D-2 0GP, D-1 62GP REG REGULAR SEASON, 2 GP WJC, 4GP U18)

112P 68GP 1.64

McDavid 16 YO (D-2 25GP ERI REGULAR SEASON, 7GP U18, D-1 34GP ERI REGULAR SEASON, 7GP WJC)

99P 73GP 1.35PPG




That all being said, I think McKenna is the one whose game least translates to the NHL of those three, and whereas I have been straddling the line between first line elite and franchise with McKenna, it was clear as prospects for me that McDavid and Bedard wee both generational prospects