What Is Gavin McKenna’s Net Worth In 2026? Toronto Maple Leafs Top Prospect Salary And Career Earnings Explained
He is 18 years old and has not played an NHL game yet. His entry-level contract is worth up to $13.725 million if he hits every bonus. Gavin McKenna's net worth is only just beginning to take shape, but the numbers are already unlike most rookies.
Gavin McKenna was born on December 20, 2007, in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. He is 18 years old, has not yet appeared in an NHL regular-season game, and his net worth at this point is effectively the sum of his signing bonus and whatever NIL money he earned during his one season at Penn State, where he reportedly received up to $700,000 in name, image and likeness compensation as part of his recruitment. The ELC he signed on July 3, 2026 is where the real financial story begins.Â
McKenna was the third No. 1 overall pick in Maple Leafs history after Wendel Clark in 1985 and Auston Matthews in 2016. The draft ceremony itself had an unusual moment: McKenna put on his sweater beside NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and singer Justin Bieber after being selected with the first pick at KeyBank Center in Buffalo.
Gavin McKenna's Maple Leafs Contract: ELC Salary and Bonus Structure
McKenna's first NHL contract carries a $1.025 million salary in year one, a $1.075 million salary in year two, and a $1.125 million salary in year three. It also includes up to $1 million in Schedule A bonuses and $2.5 million in Schedule B bonuses through each season.Â
That gives McKenna a potential maximum value of roughly $13.725 million over three years if he hits every bonus, making him near the top of the modern entry-level contract era. The only higher rookie contract in NHL history belongs to Eric Lindros, who signed a five-year, $22 million guaranteed deal with Philadelphia in 1992, before the salary cap era changed how entry-level deals were structured entirely.
Gavin McKenna Career Background and What Comes Next in Toronto
McKenna made his NCAA debut after three seasons with the WHL's Medicine Hat Tigers, during which he set multiple CHL records including a 51-game point streak in his final campaign. At Penn State he posted 51 points in 35 games before the Maple Leafs won the draft lottery and moved up to select him first overall.
Toronto will now ask McKenna to test his game-breaking talents at the top flight, with the first-overall pick expected to earn an immediate top-line role next to 2016 first-overall pick Auston Matthews and rising youngster Matthew Knies. By signing his ELC, McKenna is no longer eligible to return to the NCAA. The Maple Leafs or the AHL's Toronto Marlies are his only options. Given what he produced in college and the WHL, most expect him to make the jump to the NHL directly.