Gavin McKenna, Canucks make decision that Maple Leafs, Sharks don't before NHL Draft

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Gavin McKenna, Canucks make decision that Maple Leafs, Sharks don't before NHL Draft originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Toronto Maple Leafs, San Jose Sharks and Vancouver Canucks hold the top-three picks in the 2026 NHL Draft, in that order.

Only one of those teams has scheduled a dinner with Canadian phenom Gavin McKenna during the NHL Draft Combine week going on now -- and it's not Toronto.

Nope, Vancouver is the only team that will be going out to get dinner with McKenna:

Gavin McKenna is having dinner with just the Canucks this week at the Combine.

No Maple Leafs or #SJSharks. I doubt that means anything for his draft stock, but it's interesting

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) June 3, 2026

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There's plenty that can be read into here, but it's obviously hard to know from outside these organizations what any of it really means.

The first clear question is why the Maple Leafs aren't having dinner with McKenna. One could assume they have their own preferences for spending time with the star from Penn State, and that maybe dinner just doesn't fit what they want to accomplish.

One could also wonder whether they're not as high on McKenna as everyone assumes they are. This doesn't prove that, of course, but it raises questions.

You'd think the Sharks might make the dinner move if they thought McKenna would reach the second pick, but they could be focused more on defensemen this week.

Obviously, the Canucks would love if McKenna's immense talent somehow fell to No. 3. They had the best odds of getting the first pick but didn't get it, which seemed to take McKenna off the table.

Would Vancouver do this dinner with McKenna if the thought was there's no chance he gets to the third pick? It's a fair question to ask.

This is likely not much of anything, but there's also a chance that on draft night, folks look back and realize this meant more than it seemed at the time.

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