It is undeniably hard to sit here and explain just what Gavin McKenna will mean for Penn State because of just how exponential it is.
Not just for Penn State men’s hockey. Not just for Guy Gadowsky’s legacy, for the massive chapter it will open up in the still-short history book of a Division 1 program that plays inside of Pegula Ice Arena.
The who of Gavin McKenna is simple, to a degree. He’s a hockey player from Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada.
He’s very good. In fact, he’s maybe the best in the world right now of those undrafted and unsigned by NHL teams. When he’s eligible in the summer of 2026, he will likely be the first pick in that NHL draft too.
He scored 41 goals and had 88 assists in his 56 games last season with the Medicine Hat Tigers of the WHL last year.
He’s won a litany of awards and championships and titles and trophies. He’s been chosen by many as another “generational talent” that will eventually make his way to the NHL.
He committed to play hockey at Penn State on Tuesday and that’s where the what begins.
Gavin McKenna is not just an athlete coming to play hockey at Penn State. He’s not just a prolific hockey player lending his talent to Gadowsky’s squad after its best year yet. He’s not just another name in the student directory at Penn State.
The what of Gavin McKenna is one of the most profoundly important moments for college hockey and Penn State athletics in part because of who Gavin McKenna is.
Now one of the world’s most well-known athletes will have their name tied to Penn State and because of the way college hockey, and the way the NHL draft works, it’s all before he even steps foot onto the playing surface inside of Terry Pegula’s nine-figure gift to his alma mater.
Now because of the who and that what, the eyes of the hockey world will peer directly through the windows that run parallel to University Drive, sneaking a peek into the future of the sport.
The what that comes from McKenna’s commitment is a cornerstone moment for a sport that’s fought a somewhat self-righteous fight to prove that it is the place where future NHL talent can be developed.
On a grander level, it changes so much for the headwinds that have been blowing college hockey forward ever since the NCAA bowed down the struggle against amateurism, opening its doors to CHL exports and financial dollars for all athletes. The what of his commitment is a defiant threshold for that debate that can never be crossed again.
And this – or rather the “what” – is something that changes Penn State athletics forever.
Too, now Penn State men’s hockey will be changed forever.
Now, Penn State will be featured prominently on the Big Ten Network’s men’s hockey schedule — something it’s seemingly always fought behind the likes of the conference’s blue bloods for. Now, Penn State fans won’t just come to Pegula for the novelty of catching a game but rather the intensity of seeing the one of the sport’s best player skate.
Now, there – much in the way the recent Frozen Four run did – will be serious conversations about Penn State men’s hockey’s performance. Now, there will be serious expectations not just on the team but an individual player in a degree that has not been even broached previously. No athlete before playing will be as talked about as McKenna will be. In the local media. In the national media. In the Canadian media. In the hockey world. In Penn State history.
Yes, eventually 3- and 4- and 5-star recruits debated and discussed on message boards and recruiting services go on to be the Saquon Barkleys, the Jack Hams or even the Paul Joneses of the world. But we only come to terms with that in retrospect.
Yes, there will still be opportunities for you to wonder what would have been had Trey Burke remained committed to Penn State, if Justin Fields kept wearing that Penn State hat. But we only struggle with that after the fact.
There will be hundreds, if not thousands, of other moments where Penn Staters will get angry or excited, will blindly and faithfully, will correctly and falsely put their collective sports mental health on the backs of an athlete.
But there won’t be an athlete who rips down the wall that McKenna just did. The one that is concrete in just how good he can truly be before he gets here. The one that says to Canada’s major junior league that the best can develop in the NCAA. One that quite literally takes decades and decades of the sport and genuinely breaks the ground – all by stating his intentions. One that happens to do it at a place that has developed just a barely handful of NHL players who haven’t shown staying power.
There just won’t be an athlete who will be as sure of a thing as Gavin McKenna going first overall in the major sports that comes to Penn State like this again.
There won’t be an athlete who raises Penn State’s athletic program to new heights as immediately as McKenna just did. One who pushes Penn State deeper into the NIL, revenue-sharing, pay-for-play, win-at-all-quite-literal-costs places that his reported commitment just did. One who now will stand side-by-side with his university forever in a manner that we’ve not seen before.
In the months and years that come after Gavin McKenna, it will be that what that bonds him and Penn State forever.
In late June of 2026, it won’t just be just “Gavin McKenna” headed to whichever team wins the lottery. It will be “Gavin McKenna from Penn State” headed to whichever team wins the lottery.
When McKenna eventually wins an award at the NHL level, it will be “former Penn State hockey player Gavin McKenna” that’s written in articles across the internet. And maybe – eventually one day like many of the first overall picks before him – it will be “the Stanley Cup Champion who went to Penn State, Gavin McKenna.”
The what of Gavin McKenna is simple.
The what doesn’t just change college hockey. The what doesn’t just take Penn State hockey to new heights.
The what of Gavin McKenna is forever.
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