Ever since the Maple Leafs landed Gavin McKenna first overall in the 2026 NHL Draft, there has been nothing but excitement. Fans and analysts have already crowned him as the next face of the Leafs franchise and as the missing piece to get the Leafs back into contention. While excitement is a normal reaction to getting a player like McKenna, it puts the Leafs at a crossroads. Depending on how the Leafs perform, McKenna's presence could either send the Leafs on a Dynasty run or lead to a full-blown rebuild.
The Leafs are staring at two wildly different futures with McKenna
Sometimes all it takes is a young player who is hungry to turn a franchise around. There are plenty of examples of a young player joining a roster and playing well, causing the team to exceed expectations. Look at the New York Islanders with Matthew Schafer this past season. The youthful energy that McKenna will bring could be contagious. It could cause the rest of the team to buy in and play with the same energy and hunger.
In this case, the Leafs will likely find themselves in a playoff spot this upcoming season. Sure, they won't win the Atlantic or be the best team in the East. But they should find themselves in third or one of the wildcard spots. But this season would just be the beginning. Once McKenna has some experience under his belt and chemistry with his teammates, he will help the Leafs take that next step. He will lead them to multiple deep playoff runs and potentially end the 58-year drought.
What if they don't start next season right?
However, there is also the possibility that the Leafs continue to struggle next season. That this past season was not an outlier, and that this team is not good enough to make a playoff run. To make matters worse, we could see key veterans like John Tavares and Oliver Ekman-Larsson start to take a step back. Both are in their mid-30s, around the age when players start to decline. The Leafs could be looking at an aging roster, at the bottom of the Atlantic again.
If that is to happen, the Leafs might look to do more of a rebuild and make McKenna the face of the franchise. They will look to acquire a bunch of young talent to surround McKenna and build the Leafs' next contending core. Guys who could be moved during this type of decison are William Nylander, Matthews Kines, and Morgan Riley. Auston Matthews could even be on the move if they want to fully move on from the past core and embrace McKenna and the future.
These are two futures that the Leafs can find themselves in. We just will not no which path they go down, until they hit the ice.
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