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Auston Matthews of the Maple Leafs
The camps of Gavin McKenna and Auston Matthews are “excited” about playing with each other, according to a prominent NHL insider.
The Toronto Maple Leafs won the NHL Draft Lottery on Tuesday, which gives them the right to draft No. 1 overall in the 2026 NHL Entry Draft on June 26 in Buffalo. With the first-overall pick, the Leafs are widely expected to select the 18-year-old McKenna from Penn State University. Should that happen, he would join the Leafs and team up with their captain, Matthews — who was taken first overall a decade ago — in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft.
While there has been some chatter recently regarding Matthews’ commitment to the Maple Leafs after the team missed the playoffs this year, it appears that the team landing the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, and potentially taking McKenna with it, has given Matthews a jolt of excitement.
Speaking on the “Leafs Morning Take” podcast, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period said he spoke to McKenna’s agent, Pat Brisson, who told him that he was excited about the prospect of McKenna being drafted by the Maple Leafs and playing in the hockey mecca of Toronto.
“I went back and forth a little bit with Pat, and he was excited. Obviously, they’ve got to wait and see what’s going to happen, but the prospect of going to a market like Toronto that has a former first-overall pick in Auston that he can build off of and learn from, and, you know, Auston will be the quasi-mentor, and all that, it’s exciting. Any chance you get to go to an original-six city, or an original-six team, there’s a lot of excitement here. But the reaction from McKenna’s camp was, ‘yeah, we’re excited about this.’ There’s a lot more in the process to go over in the next six weeks. Let’s see how that unfolds, but they seem pretty jacked about it,” Pagnotta said.
The insider said he also did his due diligence and reached out to Matthews’ camp, who told him something similar, that they’re excited about potentially teaming up with McKenna in Toronto.
“I reached out to Auston’s side, too. He’s pretty excited about that prospect as well, and obviously, the first overall pick is certainly a good sign. So there’s a lot more that has to happen there with respect to Auston, and there’s a lot more than has to happen with the Leafs in terms of what additional moves they’re going to make. But across the board… these are all positive signs,” Pagnotta said.
A nice little piece here in the Leafs Morning Take for leafs nation this morning. David Pagnotta says he spoke to both McKennas and Matthews camp. McKennas camp is excited and jacked about the opportunity to play in Toronto. Matthews side is excited. Take a listen. #LeafsForever
The Maple Leafs got a true gift from the hockey gods when they won the NHL Draft Lottery on Tuesday night.
Going into the lottery, the Leafs had just an 8.5% chance of winning the No. 1 overall pick, so they were a true long shot to win the pick. But they got lucky when the ping-pong balls bounced their way, giving them the top pick in June’s draft.
After an awful year where the Leafs missed the playoffs and looked like they may have to embark on a long rebuild, the team was given an absolute lifeline by winning the lottery and getting the top pick. New Leafs GM John Chayka and senior advisor Mats Sundin now have the absolute best building block available to not only help lead this Leafs’ team back to respectability, but also convince Matthews that he should sign a long-term extension with the team and stay in Toronto for good.
Now, let’s see what happens at the draft in June and if the Leafs make the McKenna pick official, as expected.
Adam Martin Adam Martin is a sports journalist with over 15 years of experience. He has a speciality in MMA, while also covering the Big 4 Sports. Adam is currently a contributor to Heavy.com, with previous experience working for The Toronto Star, Sportsnet, theScore, Bookies, BJPenn.com, and MMAOddsbreaker.com. More about Adam Martin
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