On Friday night, Gavin McKenna’s road to the NHL Draft is expected to end in its predicted spot: on stage at Buffalo’s KeyBank Center as the No. 1 pick.The Toronto Maple Leafs, after a shocking and disastrous 2025-26 season, will be banking that McKenna’s remarkable offensive skill, productivity and creativity help him gain a foothold as a franchise-caliber talent alongside established stars Auston Matthews and William Nylander. McKenna’s ceiling is considerable, and Toronto’s short- and long-term plans likely depend on him reaching it.While his selection is unsurprising due to his body of work and the finishing kick he showed as a Penn State freshman, his lone NCAA season also brought with it on-ice questions and an off-ice legal issue that, for a spell, made Friday’s moment something less than a guarantee.Are the Sharks why the Blackhawks traded for Bowen Byram?Corey Pronman, Scott Wheeler and moreThe junior hockey sensationBefore McKenna’s draft year had even begun, he’d already received the “Next One” treatment. There had been Sidney Crosby, John Tavares, Connor McDavid and Connor Bedard, and then there was McKenna. Being assigned that label doesn’t guarantee that it fits, but that’s the lineage he’d followed in attention and hype.At 12, McKenna left his home in the Yukon for a hockey academy in Kelowna, British Columbia, lit it up against older players and went first in the WHL Bantam Draft. He registered 18 points in 16 WHL games for the Medicine Hat Tigers as a 15-year-old, 97 points in his first full season at 16 and 173 points in 76 combined regular-season, playoff and Memorial Cup games a full year out from his draft, outproducing McDavid at the same age. As an underager, he led Canada to U18 worlds gold with 20 points in seven games (breaking the single tournament scoring record for a 16-year-old held by Alex Ovechkin), capped off by a natural hat trick to lead a third-period comeback in the final.At 17, he won a WHL title, led the league with a plus-60 rating, and became the third-youngest player ever to win CHL Player of the Year (behind only Crosby and Tavares). That season, he also set the CHL’s modern scoring streak record, registering points in 51 straight games.“He’s got incredible vision,” Medicine Hat head coach and general manager Willie Desjardins said of McKenna at the time. “He can see plays before they develop.”Said one scout of McKenna heading into his draft year: “His hockey IQ is off the charts. He sees plays that others don’t see and he can make passes that other players can’t make so he’s got a combo pack of being able to read, see situations, and at an elite level know who’s open and when they’re open and then he’s got the puck skills to move the puck to those people before sometimes they’re even ready for it. His vision and his creativity are high, high-end. He’s an elite offensive mind.”The college moveAfter the NCAA Division I Council ruled to open up eligibility to major junior players who’d played in the CHL last summer, all eyes turned to McKenna, whose recruitment became arguably the biggest-ever in college hockey.Four schools emerged as suitors: Big Ten giant Michigan; now-perennial-national-champion Denver; a resurgent and historic Michigan State program; and up-and-coming Big Ten spender Penn State.The Spartans and the Nittany Lions were the finalists, and McKenna announced his commitment on ESPN’s SportsCenter — a first for a college hockey player and the clearest signal of his recruitment’s gravity.He chose Penn State, with its glitzy Pegula Ice Arena and fresh off its first-ever appearance in the Frozen Four, and a reportedly large sum of NIL and revenue sharing.He chose Penn State, though, he said, because he wanted to leave his mark on a program and chart his own path.It came with a unique pressure to deliver — on the fanfare, the media attention and for the Nittany Lions.The charges and the questionsBy the late fall of his draft year, when the forks-down-celebration of opening weekend at Arizona State had worn off, some of the shine began to wear off as well.Coming out of a weekend at Michigan State, the runners-up in his summer recruitment pursuit, scouts and agents were down on his play and questioning his hold of No. 1.Fawning over his “elite offensive mind” had been replaced by criticism from scouts and college hockey folks about his work ethic, play away from the puck, habits and lack of attention to detail. He looked at times frustrated, perimeter-oriented and disengaged.Then, on the first Saturday in February, after an outdoor game in State College, Pa., news broke that McKenna, 18, allegedly punched a 21-year-old man after what police called “an exchange of words” — some of which, according to a source close to McKenna who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing legal issue, were directed at a member of McKenna’s family.Authorities have not shared details about the exchange, and the other person involved in the altercation has not spoken publicly. The altercation occurred outside of a parking garage near Doggie’s, a State College bar that, according to police documents, McKenna had patronized with a group earlier that night.McKenna initially faced a charge of felony first-degree aggravated assault. On Feb. 6, the Centre County District Attorney dropped the felony charge, announcing that a review of video evidence failed to establish that McKenna “acted with the intent to cause serious bodily injury or acted recklessly under circumstances showing an extreme indifference to the value of human life,” which is necessary to support such a charge. What the D.A. called a police “follow-up” also confirmed that the man was not injured as seriously as described in the probable cause affidavit.McKenna still faces a misdemeanor assault charge, along with summary charges for harassment and disorderly conduct. He is next scheduled to appear at a pre-trial conference before a judge on July 13.The finishIn the second half of this season, something seemed to flip for McKenna. Propelled by a historic eight-point game against Ohio State, he registered 33 points in a 16-game span from January through mid-March.At year’s end, he’d registered 14 points in seven games at the World Juniors and 51 points in 35 games in college, finishing fifth in the country in scoring and second in points per game (1.46). His 38 points in Big Ten play led the conference in scoring and earned him Big Ten rookie of the year honors.And when his draft year was officially over, he was back where he’d started it as the presumptive No. 1 pick in the draft.“Questioning McKenna’s production is a bet you are always going to lose,” one scouting director said in the aftermath. “Was just a matter of time.”