Gavin McKenna Making $700K To Play At Penn State Is Going To Change Hockey Forever
The term "generational" definitely gets thrown around way too loosely these days. It's an epidemic that has taken over all sports. It seems like every year in every draft, there is a new "generational" can't miss prospect. Any time anybody has a great season, it automatically gets dubbed as "generational". Obviously with the way we talk about sports with grandiose hyperbole all the time, it makes sense.
But for some reason, it seems like hockey actually hits at an impressive clip with players who are dubbed as "generational". Most of the time, these players manage to not only meet the expectations put on them, but massively exceed them. Sidney Crosby was considered "generational", and he went on to win 3 Cups, a couple Olympic gold medals, scored one of the biggest goals in Canadian hockey history, a shit ton of individual awards, and considered one of the best players of all time. Alexander Ovechkin was considered generational, and he's now the greatest goal scorer to ever live. Connor McDavid was considered generational, and he's now a 5x Art Ross, 3x Hart, and a Conn Smythe Trophy winner. Auston Matthews was considered generational, and he's been scoring at a rate that could realistically put him right on pace with Ovechkin towards the end of his career.
The point I'm getting at here is that the term "generational" has certainly lost some of his significance in most sports. But not in hockey. And with a prospect like Gavin McKenna, he is considered to be right up there with the generational greats.
He's got the size. He's got the speed. He's got the skill. He's got that workhorse mentality coming from Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory. He's got the bloodline--being cousins with Connor Bedard. Everything about Gavin McKenna screams that he could very easily have a career in the NHL that puts him in a conversation with some of the all-time greats. And now before he hears his name called 1st overall at the 2026 NHL Entry Draft, he'll be spending his final year of amateur hockey playing in Happy Valley for the Penn State Nittany Lions. But nothing about this deal seems amateur to me.
Now obviously there's only one Gavin McKenna out there. It's not like $700K is going to be the new standard for NIL deals in college hockey. But now that that number is out there, it at least sets the tone across all of college hockey. It's going to create an arms race where guys are getting paid more and more. Eventually it's going to get to the point where guys can realistically have a better life playing college hockey than signing their entry level contract with a team they don't want to play for.
These kids are going to be making a few hundred thousand dollars. They'll get housing taken care of for them. They'll be gods on campus. All of these top tier programs in college hockey have all been building state-of-the-art practice facilities that are just as nice as anything you'll find in the NHL. Nutritionists provided for them. Life is going to be great for these guys.
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If they get drafted to a team where they don't think it's going to be a good situation for them? The idea of spending a few more years in college until their rights expire wouldn't seem like that big of a deal anymore. They're making money, they're lighting it up, they get to dominate campus life, and they don't ever have to worry about chipping in to buy a gift for a teammate's 1000th career game. They get to be rockstars before they even step foot in the National Hockey League.
When it comes to outrageous amount of tanking we'll see out of NHL teams this year to land Gavin McKenna, there are two outcomes right now that seem the most likely. One of them makes me sick to my stomach as a fan, and one of them makes me sick to my stomach for Gavin McKenna.
As a fan, it is going to be revolting to see him end up in Pittsburgh. The Penguins are in as good of a position as anybody to suck that hard next year. Somehow they always manage to time up their shit show years with a generational talent coming up in the draft. They were able to suck just in time to get Mario Lemieux. They were able to suck just in time to get Sidney Crosby. They are going to have a dozen scouts at every Penn State game this year. It'll be the perfect opportunity for Sid to pass the torch to McKenna like Lemieux passed it to him. You know that, somehow, Gavin McKenna spending his draft year in Pennsylvania is going to result in him putting on a Penguins sweater at the draft next year. And the Flyers will end up with the 15th overall pick.
The other option that would pain me to see as a fan is for the Buffalo Sabres to end up with that 1st overall pick next summer. Obviously the connection is already there. Gavin McKenna will be playing his draft year in Pegula Ice Arena. Clearly there is going to be a decent amount of Pegula money already tied into that $700K he's making this year. The Buffalo Sabres are already invested in McKenna at this point. Maybe he could be the one true savior they've been searching for to actually turn things around for Buffalo. But we've seen them fail countless times over the last 15 years, and how every star ends up thriving the moment they get a chance to leave Buffalo. For the sake of Gavin McKenna, I hope he doesn't end up as a Sabre. But there's already so much money in play here that it seems way too possible.
Either way, it'll be sick to watch Penn State win their first National Championship in program history after making their first trip to the Frozen Four last year.