Gavin McKenna: What this elite talent will do for Penn State men's hockey

Gavin McKenna announced his commitment to Penn State men's hockey on July 8.

The projected No. 1 NHL Draft selection in 2026 chose the Nittany Lions over Michigan State, and is reportedly getting paid $700,000 to play in Happy Valley. However, head coach Guy Gadowsky has a vision with buying in on McKenna. His commitment is the biggest thing to happen in Penn State men's hockey history. He's a generational player, one of the top prospects in the past two decades.

As a rookie in 2023-24 in the Canadian Hockey League, McKenna earned CHL Rookie of the Year with a 97-point debut season as a 16-year-old. That was only his baseline. He recorded 129 points the next season with 41 goals and 88 assists over 56 games. In 2024-25, he won CHL Player of the Year and became the third youngest to do so.

He has a career ahead of him that will put him up with the greats: the Sidney Crosby's and John Tavares's. Pittsburgh will have scouts at every home game for the 17-year-old. He averaged 2.12 points per game in the second-to-last year leading up to his draft. Time will only tell what he'll do for the Nittany Lions, and they'll get to say he went to Penn State.

Penn State's coming off a historic year already. The first Frozen Four appearance in program history after being ruled out before the second half of the season started. Upsetting Maine, the No. 3 PairWise-ranked team in the country that was expected very early on in the season to be a true national title-winning team, in the quarterfinals to book a ticket to St. Louis is quite a foundation to build on. Now Gadowsky has McKenna on his team.

The 2025 postseason was a Hockey East-packed tournament and the National Collegiate Hockey Conference took home the championship win for a second year in a row (Western Michigan, 2025; Denver, 2024). The two most prominent conferences are going to have a difficult time once the Big Ten starts ramping up.

If athletics programs are willing to put the money into players similar to McKenna, it'll be the schools with the funds to do so, the ones who plan to cap out or come close to the $20.5 million NIL ceiling. For instance, the schools like Penn State and Michigan that need to pour a lot into their football programs, but have the funds to also dish out a good amount to hockey. Primarily hockey-leaning schools, like Boston College and Denver, will also stay afloat since they don't need to set aside large portions of the pot, however much it is, to football.

A player like McKenna also puts the Nittany Lions on the map, if they weren't already for their 2024-25 season. They'll get a lot of attention from more CHL players and higher USHL prospects and be a serious team to consider for recruits. Reputable accolades are going to slowly build up as a result, whether it's conference championships or a national championship title.

Even consistent trips to the Frozen Four is enough to keep Penn State in mind, but it will eventually get to a point where those wins will need to come in. If Gadowsky gets his team to the semifinals again in 2025-26, it either needs to be a championship-winning run or followed by one in 2026-27.

The Nittany Lions have McKenna, and can get it done this season. However, if they don't, they need to consider that they may have a Macklin Celebrini-like situation on the horizon. Gadowsky might have one shot with McKenna to win it all.

McKenna obviously isn't the only hope at winning a national championship, but it's definitely a head start in the competition this season. Realistically, if Gadowsky can't bring it all back to Happy Valley with this elite player on the team, there will be public backlash.

Still though, catching the attention of more CHL players and high USHL prospects will keep Penn State in a good position even if it doesn't win a title. The Nittany Lions already have a batch of committed CHL players. They'll have the resources to keep championship goals within reach for a few years at the very least.