Seven days after selecting Gavin McKenna first overall in the 2026 NHL Draft, the Toronto Maple Leafs made his addition to the team official by inking him to a three-year, $3.225 million entry-level contract on Friday.
McKenna will make the maximum allowable on an NHL entry-level contract. His deal will have a $1.075 million cap hit, but a $4.575 million annual average value due to a plethora of performance and signing bonuses.
Per PuckPedia, McKenna’s contract breaks down like this:
Year 1: $922K NHL salary, $102.5K signing bonus, $3.5M A & B Performance Bonus, $87.5K minors salary
Year 2: $967.5K NHL salary, $107.5K signing bonus, $3.5M A & B Performance Bonus, $87.5K minors salary
Year 3: $1.0125M NHL salary, $112.5K signing bonus, $3.5M A & B Performance Bonus, $87.5K minors salary
McKenna will be a restricted free agent at age 21 during the 2029 offseason. He was represented in the contract negotiations by Pat Brisson of CAA Hockey.
While McKenna got everything he hoped for in his contract, he had less luck with his first NHL number. While playing at Penn State University and the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers — and even at his first Leafs Development Camp — McKenna has worn number 72.
But after the Leafs signed 37-year-old, two-time Vezina Trophy-winning goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky to a three-year, $27 million contract on the first day of free agency, McKenna surrendered the digits to his new backstop.
“He texted me, and we chatted on the phone,” McKenna said after the Leafs’ Development Camp scrimmage on Saturday. “Anytime you got a guy coming in who’s been in the league that long, won two Stanley Cups, I’m not gonna take his number, so it was pretty easy for me to just give it to him. He’s a staple in this league, so as an 18-year-old kid, you’re not going to take that number.”
McKenna had two other backup numbers, 9 and 27, but they didn’t work either, as they are retired by the Leafs in honor of former players Charlie Conacher, Ted Kennedy, Darryl Sittler, and Frank Mahovlich.
“I’m going to go number 92,” McKenna revealed. “Obviously, I said it, 9 and 27 are up in the rafters. I wanted to have a little bit of both in there, so 92. 9 replacing the 7.”
“He gave that number to me,” Bobrovsky said. “We had a little chat [Thursday] night. He’s a bright guy. He’s got really positive energy. I’m excited to watch him develop into a big superstar in this league.”
