Penn State men’s hockey forward Gavin McKenna will participate in the 2026 NHL Combine in Buffalo, New York, ahead of the NHL Draft. He is set to complete all the testing, per Mike Morreale of NHL.com

NHL Draft Class: Gavin McKenna, the projected No. 1 pick in the '26 Draft, will do all the testing at the Combine. @NHLCentralScout associate dir. Dave Gregory joined us to discuss McKenna & others on this wk's show
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Spotify: https://t.co/Y0jWk3WUoN pic.twitter.com/YXFEIVqLDB

— Mike Morreale (@mikemorrealeNHL) May 29, 2026

In May, McKenna decided to skip the IIHF World Championship to prepare for the NHL Combine, NHL.com announced. A move some thought would only drop his stock compared to No. 2 prospect Ivar Stenberg, who played for Sweden in the tournament.

“It’s better for his development to stay back, prepare for the NHL Combine and start his summer training,” CAA agent Matt Williams told the league.

McKenna is still probably the #1 on Toronto's list, but man what a silly decision it was for him to opt out of Team Canada at the IIHF Worlds.

Stenberg's stock has only risen from playing at the tournament, and the gap between Stenberg/McKenna is much smaller than JH/Kakko was.

— PuckEmpire (@puckempire) May 26, 2026

McKenna had 15 goals and 36 assists with the Nittany Lions in 2026. Over the course of his freshman season, he was named the National Rookie of the Month on two occasions, a Big Ten Star of the Week four times, and was a member of the All-Big Ten Second Team. He finished the season as the Big Ten Scoring Champion, Big Ten Freshman of the Year, and on the Big Ten All-Freshman Team as well.

The Whitehorse, Yukon, native played for Canada at the World Juniors. In seven games at the tournament, McKenna scored four times and added 10 assists to finish with 14 points.

Wearing the maple leaf on the front of his jersey seemingly sparked his explosive second half to the college hockey season. After the World Juniors, McKenna put up 33 points, including a record-setting eight-point affair against Ohio State.

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