Maple Leafs add Gavin McKenna with 2026 first pick

The Toronto Maple Leafs selected Canadian winger Gavin McKenna first overall in the 2026 NHL Draft, with additional picks that span the OHL, WHL, Sweden, Finland, Latvia and Russia. Here’s what the Leafs’ full draft haul means—plus key stats and team destinati

The night the Maple Leafs finally stopped guessing arrived with a single, defining click: with the first-overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft, Toronto made it official by selecting Canadian winger Gavin McKenna.

It’s a banner moment for the 18-year-old, who has felt like a first-overall storyline for years. After a college hockey run that carried its own set of doubts about whether anyone might have leapfrogged him in this draft class, McKenna is headed to Toronto as the top player of the 2026 crop.

Here’s everything you need to know about the Maple Leafs’ 2026 draft picks.

First Overall: Gavin McKenna
2025-26 Team: Penn State, NCAA
Stat Line: 15G-36A-51PTS in 35 games

For McKenna, the path to this draft stage wasn’t straight. Since leaving his hometown of Whitehorse. Yukon. for the RINK Hockey Academy in Kelowna. B.C. he has looked destined to be the face of Canadian offensive talent. His vision and playmaking carried him through every level: he put up 65 points in 35 games at the RINK academy. then scored 75 points in 26 games with the South Alberta Hockey Academy.

Then came the jump into the Western Hockey League with the Medicine Hat Tigers. where he debuted as a 14-year-old and needed little time to prove he could keep up. In his regular-season debut, he collected four points. When he eventually left Medicine Hat. he had stacked 244 points in 133 games. led the Tigers to a championship. and became the third-youngest prospect to be named CHL Player of the Year.

The only two younger? Sidney Crosby and John Tavares—names that now sit alongside his in the Maple Leafs orbit as Tavares is already on Toronto’s roster.

The decision that shaped his next step came after a major rule shift. In November 2024, the NCAA Division I Council ruled that CHL players were eligible to join the college hockey ranks. From there, the recruitment frenzy began, and McKenna chose Penn State.

The college transition came with friction. The jump to a league built with older. stronger players briefly humbled him. and he posted 16 points through his first 16 games. But as his freshman campaign wore on, the dominance returned. The final 16 games of his season saw him pile up 31 points, including an eight-point night against Ohio State in February. That performance ranked as the highest single-game total seen in NCAA Division I hockey in nearly four decades.

60th Overall: D Alexander Bilecki
2025-26 Team: Kitchener Rangers, OHL
Stat Line: 9G-20A-29PTS in 66 games

Bilecki is a Mississauga, Ont. native, and his sophomore major-junior season with the Kitchener Rangers included major hardware. He won an OHL title and a Memorial Cup during that run.

69th Overall: D Ethan MacKenzie
2025-26 Team: Edmonton Oil Kings, WHL
Stat Line: 22G-36A-58PTS in 59 games

MacKenzie was passed over in the previous two drafts, but this season became the breakout that changed everything. He earned a spot on Canada’s world junior team. Next, he will start playing NCAA hockey at North Dakota next season.

73rd Overall: RW Zach Olsen
2025-26 Team: Saskatoon Blades, WHL
Stat Line: 18G-16A-34PTS in 57 games

Olsen made a position change in his profile for this draft: he switched from centre to right wing this season with results that fit the scouts’ language. Blades head coach Dan DaSilva sees parts of Tom Wilson’s gritty game in Olsen. and the 6-foot-one forward also played for Canada at the world under-18 championship this year.

76th Overall: D Måns Gudmundsson
2025-26 Team: Färjestad BK, Swedish junior
Stat Line: 1G-24A-25PTS in 35 games

Gudmundsson is 6-foot-two and spent significant time on the power play for Färjestad BK. His pick continued a trend in this draft direction: teams going to Sweden.

85th Overall: G Juuso Ainasto
2025-26 Team: Jokerit, Finnish junior
Stat Line: 8-3-0, 1.74 GAA, .938 save% in U18; 6-7-0, 3.28 GAA, .892 save percentage in U20

Ainasto is a 6-foot-four goaltender whose selection arrived through the Joseph Woll trade with the Philadelphia Flyers. In the U18s, he produced 1.74 GAA and a .938 save percentage, then posted U20 numbers of 3.28 GAA and a .892 save percentage.

114th Overall: G Patriks Plumins
2025-26 Team: Zemgale, Latvian league
Stat Line: 1.50 GAA, .947 save% in 16 games

The Leafs went for a second goalie in a row here, selecting Patriks Plumins, a 6-foot-three option. His form at the world under-18 championship stood out this year, including a run that helped Latvia stun the U.S. in the knockout round.

158th Overall: C Cooper Williams
2025-26 Team: Saskatoon Blades, WHL
Stat Line: 23G-34A-57PTS in 35 games

With a second pick from the Saskatoon Blades, Toronto also secured a second North Dakota commit. Cooper Williams, standing 6-foot-one, played for Canada at the last year’s Hlinka Gretzky Cup with the under-18 team.

161st Overall: D Yaroslav Fedoseyev
2025-26 Team: Chelyabinsk in Russian MHL and VHL
Stat Line: 3G-16A-19PTS in 49 games

The Leafs’ choice here came after a trade. Toronto dealt a 2027 pick to the Canucks to acquire the selection used to take Fedoseyev. At 6-foot-one, he’s expected to play in the KHL next year.

169th Overall: RW Brody Pepoy
2025-26 Team: Saginaw Spirit, OHL
Stat Line: 16G-13A-29PTS in 67 games

Pepoy arrives as an American winger who played a checking role in his first year in the OHL. He previously played for a Pittsburgh under-16 team.

The sequence of Toronto’s choices makes one thing clear: even with McKenna as the centerpiece. the Leafs also leaned into building from multiple directions—two goaltenders with international impact. defensemen with different pathways across leagues. and forwards connected to North Dakota and the wider pipeline of junior-to-college development.

But it begins and ends, for now, with the headline pick. Gavin McKenna’s name is already waiting in Toronto, and the rest of the class is built around what the Leafs hope comes next.

Maple Leafs 2026 NHL Draft Gavin McKenna Penn State Alexander Bilecki Ethan MacKenzie Zach Olsen Måns Gudmundsson Juuso Ainasto Patriks Plumins Cooper Williams Yaroslav Fedoseyev Brody Pepoy