Top prospect Gavin McKenna is leaving Canada and the WHL

It's official, 2026 top prospect Gavin McKenna is leaving the WHL's Medicine Hat Tigers and has committed to Penn State in the NCAA.

It's not a stretch to say that McKenna is the most high-profile recruit in college hockey history and that his addition is a historic moment for NCAA hockey.

McKenna's decision to leave the WHL is a huge blow to the league and to the CHL as a whole. For decades the CHL has had a near-monopoly on high end Canadian prospects, but with changes to the NCAA's admissions rules, the CHL now has stiff competition from big college programs in the United States.

McKenna finishes his WHL career with an insane 244 points in just 133 games, all with Medicine Hat. He led the Tigers to a WHL championship and a berth in the Memorial Cup and he was named by the WHL's and the CHL's Player of the Year.

He'll arrive into the NCAA next season as perhaps the most anticipated Freshman in college hockey historyy.

Read below for our earlier report on McKenna, published by Hockey Feed staff writer Jonathan Larrivee.

There has been a ton of hype surrounding the 2026 National Hockey League Entry Draft, specifically due to the fact that the team who wins the first overall pick is expected to select the highly talented, and highly coveted, Gavin McKenna.

McKenna is a 17 year old forward that has been tearing up the Western Hockey League as a member of the Medicine Hat Tigers and is coming off of a rather exceptional season. Over 56 games in the WHL last season, McKenna had 41 goals and 88 assists for a whopping 129 points on the season. I'm sure with those type of point totals you can already see why teams in the NHL are practically salivating at the prospect of adding McKenna to their roster.

McKenna however won't be eligible to be drafted until a little over a year from now and as a result the biggest question this offseason was where would he continue his development moving forward? It appears that question has now been answered, with multiple reports indicating that McKenna is set to join Penn State Hockey next season.

Former NHLer Jordan Schwartz reports that McKenna is expected to make the signing official sometime this week, while also reporting that McKenna was added to the team's group chat on Sunday night.

James Iacovone of Dobber Hockey echoed that report on Monday and wondered if Porter Martone, the Philadelphia Flyers 1st round pick (6th overall) at the 2025 NHL Entry Draft, would be joining him in short order.

This is of course a huge get for Penn State and I expect that many of the eyes in the hockey world will be glued to their program next season as everyone looks to see what McKenna can deliver in his draft year.