Who will be tanking for Gavin McKenna in 2025-2026?

[LeProspector]

He is the OVERWHELMING favourite to go first in 2026 right now. What he is currently showing is caparable to McDavid.

He was fantastic at the U18 significantly outplaying 1st round picks from a draft class two years before his.

He could regress but as it stands now he is pacing to be one of the best prospects of this millennium.

He put up similar totals to Taylor Hall in his 16 year old season. That’s my comparable for him.

He is great, but he isn’t on McDavid/Bedard’s level.

 

[Patty Ice]

SJ now has two top level BU players, who will have built in chemistry plus whoever they acquire this year.

I assume you are talking Celebrini and Smith but Smith went to BC. There's no built in chemistry there.

 

[Silky Johnson]

He put up similar totals to Taylor Hall in his 16 year old season. That’s my comparable for him.

He is great, but he isn’t on McDavid/Bedard’s level.

No he had better production then all in his D-2 year, about 20% better than hall. He is comparable to McDavid & Bedards D-1 year in his D-2 year.

He also had a significantly better U18 than any of them.

He is now listed on Elite prospects at 6'0 as a 16 year old so size will not be a problem.

Maybe he ends up at a Taylor Hall level. Hell, maybe Bedard ends up behind Hall. However, they are both tracking ahead.

 

[PaulD]

It won't be the Flyers. We don't believe in tanking, only being bad and irrelevant perpetually. If we got the first overall pick, it would put pressure on management to actual be good, and they couldn't have that.

tough sledding for Flyer fans

 

[Frank Drebin]

Buffalo will be in the running

 

[Beige Van]

Surrendah for McKenna? Probably works best with a Yankee accent

 

[Hockeyville USA]

Surrendah for McKenna? Probably works best with a Yankee accent

Boston accent for sure

 

[MTL Dirty Birdy]

Both unintentionally tank or would they be intentionally tanking?

No way Pittsburgh tanks with Crosby and the gang of vets

 

[MTL Dirty Birdy]

Flames. They’re tanking now and should be even worse next year.

Flames will have stay really bad this year or we get their first rounder as of pick #11. Missing out on that will hurt their rebuild

 

[StreetHawk]

If the premise is that right now, 2 years out, a team is planning on being terrible in the bottom 3 that season, there would need to be buy in from ownership to management to the HC on that direction starting now. There are GM/HC who can't afford to be a bottom 3 team in 25/26 and still be employed afterwards.

Probably looking at clubs who are on the downward swing. Calgary is most likely as looking at their contract situation, guys like Rasmus Anderson, Coleman and others they could trade well in advance of the 26 TDL. Really hard to say the others being 2 years out. Pitt and Wash are nearing the end but Sid would put Pitt in too high a spot to be terrible bad. Wash, think they made a bunch of moves to get Ovy as close to Wayne's record as they can for 24/25. Once he gets it, most likely in the first half of 25/26 season, they can then move Carlson at the TDL in 26.
For the teams that have been very bad in the bottom 3/4 since 2022, which GMs would still be employed if they were bottom 3 bad in 2 years? Can they have 1) multiple young prospects perform well & 2) still being an overall bottom 3 club. Detroit, once Seider and Raymond arrived, they moved from 4/5th worst to 8/9th worst in their first 2 seasons in the NHL. The development of their young players may push them outside the bottom 3 in 2 years time.

 

[Iggys Dome]

Flames will still be bad, so them.

 

[Ulysses31]

After lose for Hughes and fail for Nail, I'm having a hard time coming up with a pun for McKenna.

trip for mckenna?

 

[Bounces R Way]

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Both unintentionally tank or would they be intentionally tanking?

Well with San Jose, Edmonton, Chicago all having a blast with it, it's the Pens turn again eventually.

 

[viceroy]

Buffalo will be in the running

I hope so and I hope he drags them to a Cup win. Buffalo deserves a big W. That sad sack town should get a championship after all they've been through.

 

[madmike77]

Flames will have stay really bad this year or we get their first rounder as of pick #11. Missing out on that will hurt their rebuild

They don't need to be "really" bad. They just need to finish in the lottery. They managed that last year with a better team, so it's hard to imagine they make the playoffs with their current roster that's 21 million under the cap.

 

[bobholly39]

Givin' away wins for Gavin?

 

[StreetHawk]

Both unintentionally tank or would they be intentionally tanking?

I figure for the sake of this topic, it's intentionally tanking in 25/26 to finish in the bottom 3 as those teams combined would have 50% chance of getting the first pick, while the next 8 clubs hold the other 50%.
If it's not an intentional tank, then the GM/HC are going to be fired. Like Adams/Ruff in Buff won't survive being a bottom 3 team in 25/26. Same goes for a lot of other teams. Thus, does not benefit the GM to purposely be bad.

You'd have to be on the downward trajectory and accepting a rebuild for that season.

 

[olli]

Nashville could be worse than people realize if guys like ROR, Stamkos, marchessault and Josi have taken a good step back. But they also have drafted a lot of picks the last few years so they could end up being similar to Dallas if some of those picks really pan out. LA as well now that they have less young taleny than they used to and Kopitar and doughty are getting up there in age.

 

[Space umpire]

Nashville could be worse than people realize if guys like ROR, Stamkos, marchessault and Josi have taken a good step back. But they also have drafted a lot of picks the last few years so they could end up being similar to Dallas if some of those picks really pan out. LA as well now that they have less young taleny than they used to and Kopitar and doughty are getting up there in age.

If your good players all take a step back your team will be bad.
That’s simply genius!

 

[Ghetty Green]

Penguins or Hawks. We know how this works by now.

 

[Hockeyville USA]

Penguins or Hawks. We know how this works by now.

Hey now, a Pacific Time Zone team finally won the lottery and picked 1st... But you're probably right. Or somehow New Jersey or Edmonton gets their lottery voodoo magic and wins another.

I think Calgary or New York Islanders is the easiest, best guess, but those rarely win

 

[DudeWhereIsMakar]

I have a feeling he'll end up a Calgary Flame and will have a similar legacy as McDavid opening up their new arena and their core player they build around.

But I also see Seattle being terrible in 1-3 seasons.

 

[Hockeyville USA]

I have a feeling he'll end up a Calgary Flame and will have a similar legacy as McDavid opening up their new arena and their core player they build around.

But I also see Seattle being terrible in 1-3 seasons.

I think Seattle has enough solid pieces in their prospect pool to either insert into the lineup and take them out of the muck or trade for established NHLers to improve the roster. Wright, Firkus, Catton, Nyman Rehkopf, Evans, Nelson, Goyette, Sale, Fisker Molgaard, Dragicevic, Morrison, Winterton is more than enough to take them out of the McKenna Tank Battle IMHO. Although Francis and Bylsma could f*** it up of course.

 

[ps241]

He just finished up the most productive draft -2 season in the history of the WHL which is all the more impressive considering he was 15 until December 20th. Very dynamic looking player with the puck on his stick. The previous record was 71 points for a draft -2 player and Gavin had 97 points so he didn’t beat the record he obliterated it. I mean McKenna’s point totals are pretty much on par with Bedard’s draft -1 season.