Gavin McKenna Appears To Take Shot At Canucks After Going No. 1 Overall

The Vancouver Canucks are entering a major transition following a disastrous 2025-26 campaign that saw them finish last in the Western Conference.

Vancouver has overhauled its leadership structure, replacing Patrik Allvin with former player Ryan Johnson as general manager while bringing Daniel and Henrik Sedin back into the organization in key executive roles.

The team has also turned to Manny Malhotra as its new head coach after his championship-winning season with the Abbotsford Canucks, replacing Adam Foote behind the bench.

As far as the NHL Draft Lottery was concerned, the Canucks didn’t get the kind of luck they were hoping for. Despite missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs for only the first time in a decade, the Toronto Maple Leafs earned the first overall pick, and selected phenom forward Gavin McKenna out of Penn State University, dashing dreams of Canucks fans everywhere of seeing McKenna wearing blue and green.

However, McKenna apparently counts himself lucky that he didn’t get selected by a club like the Canucks.

Gavin McKenna Appears To Deliver A Jab To The Vancouver Canucks And Other Bottom Teams From 2025-26

The Canucks had the highest odds of any NHL team to win the Draft lottery at over 25 percent, but instead, the Maple Leafs, who had only an 8.5 percent chance, ultimately won.

For McKenna, he’s happy to have landed with an NHL club that has their sights trained on competing next season instead of a club that had been, as he put it, “tanking”.

“You see what (John) Chayka is doing, you see the players he’s bringing in, I think we obviously want to go on a run this year,” McKenna said. “So it’s very fortunate for me to go to a team like that who’s hungry and in that winning environment. It’s pretty common that players who get drafted first overall go to a team who’s tanking and it’s not the case for me. I know I’ve gotten lucky.”

Additionally, McKenna would love nothing more than to not only help the Maple Leafs return to the postseason in his first NHL campaign, but to earn the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s best rookie player.

“For sure, make the playoffs,” McKenna said when talking about his goals for the upcoming campaign. “Hopefully go on a run there with the team that we got and of course you want to win a Calder Trophy in your rookie season. I think if that happens, that’s a pretty good year.”

Just how different would the Canucks fortunes be moving forward had they won the Draft Lottery?

The Canucks Selected Caleb Malhotra With The Third Overall Pick In The 2026 NHL Draft

While the Canucks did not get the first overall pick, as many felt they deserved, they did earn the third overall pick, and used it to select forward Caleb Malhotra, the son of new head coach Manny Malhotra.

Malhotra enjoyed a breakout season with the OHL’s Brantford Bulldogs, recording 84 points in 67 games while adding 26 points in 15 playoff contests. The 6-foot-2 center finished second on the Bulldogs in regular-season scoring and led the team during the postseason. His production ranked among the best in the OHL, as he finished second among rookies in goals, assists, and points while earning OHL Rookie of the Week honors seven times throughout the year.

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