BUFFALO – Die-hard Leafs fan and pop star Justin Bieber stood on stage at the NHL draft tasked with announcing the first overall pick on behalf of his favourite team.
“He was looking at me,” said Penn State winger Gavin McKenna with a grin. “So I kind of was thinking maybe.”
After whispering something to commissioner Gary Bettman, Bieber turned to the prospects sitting in front of the stage and gestured to the 18-year-old from Whitehorse.
“Mr. McKenna,” Bieber said with a big smile. “We would like to draft you to the Toronto Maple Leafs.”
The Bieber ballad, “YUKON,” started playing inside KeyBank Center. The song was chosen by McKenna to pay tribute to his home territory and suddenly took on even more meaning.
“I’m a huge Justin Bieber fan,” McKenna said. “Yeah, playing his song for my walk-up was a pretty cool moment. So crazy.”
McKenna shook his head.
“Just crazy what’s going on right now.”
Leafs fans in the building, many already sporting No. 72 McKenna sweaters, roared in delight as Buffalo fans booed.
“This is a dream come true to hug my family and walk up on the stage, see Justin Bieber,” McKenna marvelled. “This isn’t what I imagined when I was a young kid, it’s so much better.”
After McKenna put on his own Leafs sweater, Bieber introduced a video message from “one of my dear friends.”
McKenna turned around and watched as Leafs captain Auston Matthews, who was drafted first overall 10 years ago in the same building, welcomed him into the Toronto organization.
“You’re coming to a franchise with an amazing history and fan base and we’re all working to write the next great chapter together and you’re going to be a very important part of that,” Matthews said.
McKenna did not shy away from declaring he’s hoping to play on a line with Matthews next season.
“I’m going to have to prove myself to be able to play with a player like that, but that’s my goal,” he said. “He’s a special player. If I got the opportunity to play with him, I think my game is obviously a playmaker and he’s a shooter, so I think we can complement each other pretty well. But, like I said, I’ve got to work towards that, and that’s my goal.”
In a media availability on Thursday, Leafs general manager John Chayka said his management group was in unanimous agreement about who to pick at No. 1. And while Bieber announced the pick, Chayka actually called McKenna moments beforehand to let him know.
“You ready to do this?” Chayka asked McKenna.
“I can barely hear you,” the teenager responded while hunched over with a hand to his ear.
“No, you’re good, you’re good,” Chayka said. “Congratulations. Welcome to the organization.”
“Thank you, man,” McKenna said. “Thank you so much.”
Then Leafs senior executive advisor Mats Sundin took the phone to offer his congratulations.
“Gavin is an exceptional young man with tremendous talent and character,” Chayka said in a statement issued by the team on Friday night. “Throughout this process, we had the opportunity to get to know him and his family, and each interaction strengthened our belief in him as both a player and a person.”
Chayka travelled to Whitehorse to visit with McKenna after Toronto won the draft lottery.
“That place has meant the world to me,” McKenna said. “There’s a big draft watch party in the Yukon right now so I know a lot of people at home are watching me, and the support they’ve given me throughout the years has been second to none. Without those communities in the Yukon that are supporting me, helping me fund to go down south, I wouldn’t be here. So the Yukon is a place I’ll always call home, and I’ll always carry that pride with me.”
McKenna is part of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation and included orange in his draft-night suit to pay tribute to his Indigenous roots. He was asked what this will mean to kids back home.
“It’ll show them that anything’s possible,” McKenna said. “I want to make those young kids believe in themselves and want to be a good role model for all of them. And, yeah, it’s a dream come true. All those young kids, when I go home and see them and see the smiles on their faces, it means the world to me and if I can be a good role model for them, that’s all I ask for.”
It’s a long way from Whitehorse to Toronto, but McKenna made it clear he’s ready for the spotlight and expectations that come with being only the third player picked first overall in Leafs history.
“When you go to a fan base like that and you do well, it’s the best spot to be,” he said. “It’s the biggest market out there. I’m confident in myself, and I want to do good. Hopefully the fan base falls in love with me, and it’s a good time.”
McKenna has already faced plenty of pressure in his young life. He’s been the frontrunner to go first overall in this draft ever since stepping into the Western Hockey League in 2022.
What would he tell his younger self?
“I’d tell him we got it done,” McKenna said. “So he’d be pretty happy. Obviously, this is the first step in the new chapter of my life. So, yeah, I wouldn’t give him any advice, honestly.”
McKenna will be formally introduced by the team during a news conference in Toronto on Saturday morning at the Ford Performance Centre.
