Draft: The Maple Leafs Select Gavin McKenna with the First Overall Pick

It's the NHL Draft tonight, with the first round of the 2026 draft taking place tonight in Buffalo.

As a reminder, once again this year, the draft is being held in a decentralized format. 

And with the first pick, the Toronto Maple Leafs made their move. The club won the lottery… and that allowed John Chayka to begin his tenure by selecting the prospect of his choice to kick off the draft.

Unsurprisingly, Gavin McKenna was the team's pick. He was the favorite throughout the process, and the logical choice was made.

In fact, it was Justin Bieber who announced the selection… after taking a good while to address the crowd.

GAVIN MCKENNA TO TORONTO

The @MapleLeafs have selected forward Gavin McKenna first overall in the 2026 #NHLDraft! pic.twitter.com/X5kSJNAMuw

— NHL (@NHL) June 26, 2026

Immediately after the pick, a pre-recorded message from Auston Matthews was played on stage, in which he welcomed McKenna to Toronto. And once again, it took several minutes… and it dragged on.

Do you remember the many times the league said the process would be much faster this year after last year's fiasco? Me neither.

That said, from a hockey standpoint, the Maple Leafs have landed a top-tier player. We know McKenna has been a highly touted prospect for several years, and he just had a great season in the NCAA.

Pairing him with Auston Matthews, William Nylander, and John Tavares has the potential to cause quite a stir in Toronto over the next few years. Let's see how it plays out.

Extended Coverage

With the second overall pick, the Sharks selected Ivar Stenberg, viewed by many as the only player who could have unseated McKenna from the top spot. The team has thus added another quality young forward to round out a core that already features Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith, and Michael Misa, among others.

They're going to be a tough team to beat in the coming years.