Gavin McKenna is the future of the Toronto Maple Leafs. But even the future knows when to step aside for the present.
The 2026 first overall pick out of Penn State was asked about giving up jersey No. 72 to newly signed goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. McKenna didn’t hesitate.
“Bob, he’s won two Stanley Cups. If he wants that number, he’s going to get that number,” McKenna said via BarDown on X.
It’s the kind of answer you expect from a rookie who hasn’t played a single NHL game yet. But the real twist came when McKenna was asked what number he’d pick instead.
His two other preferred numbers? Already hanging in the rafters.
“My two other ones are taken, they’re up in the rafters,” he said, referencing No. 27 (Darryl Sittler and Frank Mahovlich) and No. 9 (Charlie Conacher and Ted Kennedy). So yeah, he’s gotta think about it.
Bobrovsky arrives in Toronto after seven seasons with the Florida Panthers, where he won back-to-back Stanley Cups. The Panthers also knocked the Maple Leafs out of the playoffs twice during that run. Now he’s on the other side of the rivalry.
The Leafs’ goaltending situation is interesting. They’re rolling with the same tandem that won the Cup together in 2024 — Bobrovsky and Anthony Stolarz. Stolarz signed with Toronto as a free agent that summer, and now Bobrovsky has followed him north.
General manager John Chayka has been busy beyond the Bobrovsky signing. The team also added defenseman Darren Raddysh and forward Jack Roslovic, trying to build around the McKenna pick.
McKenna was the consensus No. 1 in the 2026 draft, and there’s a lot of pressure on him to be the guy who finally gets Toronto past the second round. But he’s handling the early spotlight with the kind of low-key confidence that plays well in a hockey-crazed market.
As for what number he’ll actually wear when training camp rolls around? He didn’t say. But the options are limited when half the digits you want are retired and the other half belong to a two-time Cup winner.
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