A Generational Talent? 🤯 The Bruins’ Path to Drafting Gavin McKenna, Why EVERYONE Wants Him!

A Generational Talent? 🤯 The Bruins’ Path to Drafting Gavin McKenna, Why EVERYONE Wants Him!

Could the Bruins really sacrifice an entire season for one player? Let’s dive into that controversial topic. Should they be tanking? Is Gavin McKenna more than just one player? Because you give up this season and you get Gavin McKenna instead, that is that is more than a draft pick. Okay, that is the future of your franchise right there. The face of it right there. Let’s see if this is the move for the guy they’re calling the best NHL prospect since Conor McDavid. And boy has he lived up to it so far in a couple of years in the WHL. Okay, first year 97 points in 61 games for the Medicine Hat Tigers of the WHL. This past year, 129 points in 56 games, including 88 assists. the youngest WHL player of the year since John Tiveres. All of this before he even turns 18. He’ll suit up for the Penn State Nitney Lions in the NCAA this year as a 17-year-old for his first game. The great prospects in this sport are getting younger and younger. We had all the hype around Celbrini, around Baddard, back 10 years to McDavid. Gavin McKenna fits that hype and maybe then some. You saw it with the NHL draft this year. There weren’t many draft day trades, weren’t many trades in this off season because teams don’t want to give up their first round pick. It might be too great a risk to lose the chance at Gavin McKenna because they saw what happened this year with the Islanders supposed to be picking 10th, end up picking number one. God forbid that happens to them next year and they don’t have that pick. Nobody is dealing their first round pick in 2026 except, you know, maybe the Florida Panthers. They already have. Anyone who’s anyone in this league is trying to at least keep the dream alive that they could go out and get Gavin McKenna. So now we should take a look at who the best fits would be for McKenna. who needs him the most and who is that going to benefit the most in the eyes of the NHL, which is always a controversial topic, right? Why does one team need him more than the other? He’s one of the best prospects in the last decade, if not the very best. Well, here’s what they’re going to like around the National Hockey League. Number one team desperate for Gavin McKenna. It would be a great fit for him and a great fit for the league. The Chicago Blackhawks. How could they not be, man? playing alongside Connor Badard, his cousin by marriage. I think they’ve hung out a couple of times, but you’ve got your generational center and your generational winger. And this Blackhawks team has not gotten any better the last couple years of Bard. That’s not really his fault, but we’re talking about a Blackhawks team that is a decade removed from a dynasty and right now is like hanging off the precipice of being the Buffalo Sabres. like they’re very close to being one of the worstrun organizations in all of hockey, which is what they were before drafting uh Jonathan Taves and Patrick Kane and becoming a dynasty. They’re pretty close to that. You know, Buffalo hasn’t made the playoffs in 15 years, but you get what I’m saying. Like organizational mismanagement here. They don’t have anybody left from the dynasty years in terms of that front office, coaching staff, players. Obviously, there’s no semblance of those three Stanley Cups that they won in the 2010s. So, it’s all gone. What they have is Connor Baddard, a couple other pretty good prospects, and a whole lot of hope. Like, that’s about it. Baddard, Nazar, you know, some of these other ones that are coming in in the next few seasons. They’re going to be right there in the lottery again. And you’re talking about an original six city that is a terrific hockey town, probably the second best in America. I’d say the NHL would love to have that revitalized with two young stars like Baddard and McKenna because they’ve seen that formula work in that very city before in our lifetime. Okay, it would be just like having Kane and Taves added to their team in 2006 and 2007. It would just make so much sense and it would absolutely revitalize what is obviously a pretty bad hockey team right now. And let’s face it, a sports town that is ready to have someone winning again. The Cubs are having a good year, but outside of that, the White Socks are coming off the worst season in modern baseball history. Uh, the Bears didn’t really get any better with having two top 10 picks, including their new starting quarterback. And the Bulls are just pathetically mid. And the Blackhawks are horrible. They need something going on in that city. Gavin McKenna would be a huge lift for them. Now, let’s get close to my heart, shall we? The next team that could desperately use Gavin McKenna and would be great for the league. Of course, that next team is the Boston Bruins. Gavin McKenna playing in Boston would be A1 prime theater for the NHL. Gary Bman loves his American markets and there is no better American hockey market than Boston. It is the number one hockey town in the United States. Am I biased? Of course I am. Yeah, naturally I am. But come on, man. Gavin McKenna on one side, David Posternok on the other. You could stick anybody you want at center. You can stick Elias Lindholm there. You can keep Pavle Zaka there. You can put Fraser Mitten there for all I care. If you’ve got Posternok on one side, Gavin McKenna on the other. There is a Stanley Cup in the Bruins future. And in terms of looking at it for this year, because that’s how we have to look at it. If they’re going to tag, it’s going to be this year. This Bruins team to me is closer to the number one pick than they are to the postseason. I know there are some Bruins fans out there that are, you know, saying, “Well, if this works and this works,” and I get it. I do see a scenario where the Bruins could push for the playoffs. A lot needs to go right. But you look at what this team was from March 7th, the NHL trade deadline on to the end of the regular season. They were horrible. They were a team that if they continued that form would have probably the best odds at Kevin McKenna in 2026. They were just dreadful. And to be totally honest with you, they didn’t get that much better. Okay, they’re getting Charlie Makavoy back, who they didn’t have in that stretch. They’re getting Hampus Lindholm back, who they didn’t have in that stretch. They’re probably getting a bounceback year from Jeremy Swayman. But that’s three things already that you need to go right just for you to be mid. to to crawl out of the doldrums of being one of the worst teams in the league. That’s three major things that need to go your way. And if you’re going to make the playoffs, you’ll need those three things plus Elias Lindholm to bounce back, Pavle Zaka to bounce back. Um you will need real key contributions from your young guys like Fraser Mitten, like Matthew Potra. You need Morgi to score 30 goals. Again, a ton needs to go right. You need to actually put together a goalending tandem. So much needs to go right for the Bruins to actually make the playoffs in probably the toughest division in the NHL. Nobody wants their team to lose games on purpose. But let’s be honest here. When we’re talking about the future, the long-term future of the Bruins, what is going to be better off for them? making the playoffs as the last wildcard team this year and getting pushed around by Florida or Washington if they make that kind of run again or Toronto or getting someone like Gavin McKenna and building your team for the future. I know which way I’m going. I certainly know which way I’m going. Now, David Posterno is one of the best players in the NHL and he’s in his prime right now. But let’s be honest, the Bruins need to start over. Everything except Posterno and maybe Makavoy and maybe maybe Swayman, you’ve got to build out everything else. Okay. What Gavin McKenna could do for the Bruins is actually kickstart their Stanley Cup window rather than being a full tear down rebuild. And here’s why. If you get Gavin McKenna in the 2026 draft, you’ve already landed that number one pick. That opens up so many doors for the Bruins because now you go from all the things that make the Bruins great, right? the fan base, original six city. Um, they used to have a commitment to winning. The Bruins all of a sudden become this greatly supported original six team that is horrible with no direction and no future in their front office or on their coaching staff to all of a sudden, hey, this is a wellsupported original six team that also has a top five offensive player in David Post that does have a franchise goalie in Jeremy Swayman, a franchise defenseman in Charlie Makavoy. Uh they’ve actually got some good prospects and they’re going to land the top prospect of the last 10 years. That changes everything. And when you look at a 2026 free agent class that is absolutely stacked, having Gavin McKenna on your roster changes how all of these guys view the Boston Bruins. and they’ll have some money. So, if you get Gavin McKenna number one overall, that might change how Jack Eel thinks about this. Right now, Jack Eel’s thinking, “Yeah, you know, I grew up a Bruins fan. I’m from Boston, but why would I ever leave Vegas? We’re going to be probably the best team in the NHL this year. I’ve got a 100point winger who’s just been added to my line. Got no taxes, good weather, a city that supports us. Why would I ever leave Vegas? If you get Gavin McKenna number one overall, that changes things. Then you say, “Huh, I could center a line with David Post, who’s better than Mitch Martyr, and have Gavin McKenna on the other side of things, and I can be the hometown hero. I can win a Stanley Cup with my hometown team having a generational prospect right next to me.” That changes a lot. So beyond what McKenna gives you just for the talent and the face of the franchise thing, he changes your free agency expectancy day one. As soon as you land that pick, you haven’t even picked him yet. You become a much sexier destination in free agency. Something you haven’t been through the mostly ups but some downs of the last 20 years. The Bruins have clearly not been a free agency destination for 20 years. They don’t do free agency well. They don’t necessarily do the draft well. They don’t do trades very well in the Don Sweeney tenure. But what they have done well is taking care of their homegrown guys. Brad Marshian being the one notable exception 15 years into his career when they finally had a bad team. Other than that, Patrice Berseron, David Crerache, they stayed there their whole careers. David Posterno, Jeremy Swayman, Charlie Makavoy, they’re all well taken care of. They don’t want to leave Boston. You can fix a lot of ills with this team by just having one bad season. And even though he is so so young, again, he’s not going to turn 18 until 5 days before Christmas this year, he can actually jumpstart your Stanley Cup contending window faster than a lot of other teams that are going to be in on Gavin McKenna. It’s as simple as that. Just like it is with any team. you get McKenna in here, it’s an absolute gamecher for the next decade of your franchise. But now it’s time for me to be really honest with you. Now it’s time for honesty. I want Gavin McKenna to play for the Bruins. But what’s actually going to happen is he’s going to be a Pittsburgh Penguin. Let’s not kid ourselves here. This is the NHL. This is what’s actually going to happen. Gavin McKenna from Yukon, the Yukon Territory, not the University of Connecticut, the Yukon Territory, commits to play at Penn State where they’ve produced five NHL hours all time and about 20 NHL games. He goes to Penn State, they’re going to offer him 700,000. And you look at the Penguins in the same state, the Penguins are terrible. They’re not trying to get any better. They are trying to lose this year. They’re going to trade Raquel. They’re going to trade Rust at some point. If Ganny Malcolin’s probably going to retire at the end of this season, and they’re going to need another star. The last time the Penguins were this bad for this amount of time, as in like a handful of years, the NHL practically gifted them Sydney Crosby. And what happened then? Mario Lemieux comes back, plays one more year with Sid just to show him the ropes. Generational prospect coming into Pittsburgh. You’ve already got a Hall of Famer on the roster, one of the great icons in the history of the game, who can just stay on one more year and show the kid the ropes. Is this sounding familiar? Cydney Crosby’s 38 years old. His days are numbered in this league, although he can still play a little bit. He’s gonna stay on one more year after his after his buddy Gino is retired. Sydney Crosby is going to stay on one more year. He’s going to play alongside Gavin McKenna on the same line and he’s going to show him the ropes and hockey will be back in Pittsburgh and they will win more Stanley Cups. The last time the Penguins were this bad, they got seriously lucky and won the Crosby sweep stakes. After the lockout season, the kind of faulty system and how they did it, they win the lottery. It’s going to be just like what Mariel Lemieux did with Sydney Crosby. Crosby’s going to do it with Gavin McKenna. And is Pittsburgh one of the biggest markets in the league? No. It’s it’s actually a relatively small market, but obviously a great hockey market. They love the Penguins there. Um, and it has happened this way twice before. The Penguins aren’t in real trouble of relocating like they have been before, but in the early 80s, they were as dead as a doornail, man. Nobody cared about the Pittsburgh Penguins. And then Mariel Leu came in with the number one overall pick. and he made them into what the Penguins were, what they are. One back-to-back Stanley Cups, Lemieux becomes one of the three or four best players ever to play the sport. And then and then they’re about to get sold and probably relocate again. They have to be owned by the league. Lemieux buys them. He saves them. And then they’re in this horrid stretch. They get Mark Andre Flurry number one. They get Malin. And then after the lockout, oh man, all of a sudden Pittsburgh’s got that number one pick again. Here comes Sydney Crosby. Like any of us who know their NHL history know that this is how it’s going to happen. Okay. I would love for Gavin McKenna to play for the Bruins. I think the league would love Gavin McKenna to play for someone like Chicago. They don’t want him to play for San Jose or Anaheim or Nashville, who I don’t think is going to be in the equation. I think Nashville is probably going to be close to a playoff team this year. What they would really love though is for Gavin McKenna to play alongside Cydney Crosby, two of the greatest prospects to ever grace the ice. one is a legit obviously first ballot hall of famer top five or six player ever to play and the next one right next to him like seriously if they could have lined up Sydney Crosby next to Wayne Gretzky they would have they got the next best thing and now they’re going to get it again in a hockey crazed market so if you believe in conspiracy theories you want to put the tin foil hat on here it is Gavin McKenna Pittsburgh Make no mistake about it, that is what the league wants more than just about anything. They’d love to have them in an original six city, good American market. They’ll get the next best thing with Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh, by the way, is going to they’re going to be so bad it’s going to be barely conspiratorial. I think they could be the worst team in the league this year. Chicago will be right there. I think San Jose will get better. Anaheim will get better. Nashville will get better. Boston will be in that mix as well, for sure. My Bruins will be in that mix. But Pittsburgh is the one of those teams that that didn’t really do anything in free agency. They didn’t blow anybody away in the draft. They didn’t have a top five pick, nothing like that. They’re horrible and they will continue to be horrible. And Sid’s going to leave this thing in good hands because he’s going to play alongside Gavin McKenna, the next great Canadian hockey prospect. The best since Conor McDavid. Maybe since Conor Badard. Maybe since Crosby. Because but reading the scouting reports, seeing the numbers, seeing the highlights, Gavin McKenna is closer to a Crosby McDavid kind of prospect than he is a Taylor Hall kind of number one pick. Even closer to those other guys than a Jack Hughes, let’s say. So, what’s going to happen? Where is Gavin McKenna going to end up? original six like Chicago or Boston or is this thing just all gonna happen again and he’s going to be a Pittsburgh Penguin? Let me know in the comments section below. Be sure to like the video, subscribe to the channel. It’s completely free. Helps me keep my job. Um we are here every weekday live at high noon Eastern time on YouTube and then wherever you get your podcast as well talking nothing but Boston sports. So check it out. Check out the other videos on the channel talking a lot of hockey, a lot of Gavin McKenna. Um and you can find us again every weekday. I’m your host, Cam Stewart.

The Boston Bruins are looking to re-tool and get back to the playoffs, but what if they had a chance to draft a generational talent who could end their rebuild overnight? Gavin McKenna, the projected #1 overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft, is being compared to Connor McDavid and Connor Bedard, and his unbelievable stats are already shattering records.

In this video, we’ll discuss the incredible skill set of the young superstar, and then dive into the Bruins’ realistic path to drafting him. With the Bruins currently sitting outside the top-5 draft order, would it take a full-blown tank job, or a miracle in the lottery? Join us as we explore the future of this young prospect and the long-shot dream of every Bruins fan.

#BostonBruins #GavinMcKenna #NHLDraft #NHL #Bruins #NHLDraftProspects

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