Seventeen-year-old Gavin McKenna is already a top prospect for the 2026 NHL Draft and is trending towards being the No. 1 overall pick.

The young forward who is already being considered to becoming a “generational hockey talent” with some of the best stars in the league. McKenna is the third-youngest player to win Canadian Hockey Player of the Year. Two 16-year-olds accomplished this feat: Sidney Crosby and John Tavares.

But before the pros, the left winger has an NCAA career to figure out if he decides to jump into college hockey instead of stay with the CHL. Financially, it’s more reasonable for McKenna to start a career at the college level, however, nothing is set in stone.

If he were to jump into the NCAA, McKenna has a couple of schools at the top of his mind: Penn State and Michigan State.

Penn State is the favorite to recruit top NHL prospect Gavin McKenna

Various sources, including Puck preps and Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, have put the Nittany Lions in the early lead to land McKenna. On Friedman’s podcast, his polls ranked Penn State as an early favorite.

With the Western Hockey League’s Medicine Hat Tigers, he posted 129 points on 41 goals and 88 assists. McKenna was also plus 60 for the season. In the last World Juniors Championship (U20), he had one goal in the tournament in the 4-0 win over Finland.

While it’s still early to claim McKenna will 100 percent choose Penn State for his collegiate hockey career, it doesn’t hurt to have an edge on the competition early on.

How NIL deals are helping Penn State and how is recruitment looking for the Nittany Lions overall

One thing benefiting the Nittany Lions for these top tier recruits is NIL packages. Since the scope of college hockey and the CHL is continuing to change with CHL players now being eligible to play NCAA hockey as of this upcoming season, it’ll be more common for Canadian hockey players to start jumping ship. NIL deals will be a big factor into which schools land top NHL prospects.

As of now, Penn State seems to be in a good spot.

Aside from McKenna’s potential commitment, Penn State already locked down defenseman Jackson Smith and forward Pierce Mbuyi.

Penn State is also in the running to land Porter Martone, a top five prospect in the 2025 NHL Draft whose logged 98 points in 57 games in his most recent season as a captain with the Brampton Steelheads. He has already been named to Canada’s 2025 IIHF World Championship team.

It’s not a definite that the Nittany Lions will land this recruit as other schools seem to be coming into the mix, but as of now, Martone’s ties are mainly in Happy Valley.

All three Canadian players — Smith, Mbuyi, and Martone — are in the CHL, proving how quick this turnaround will be in the NCAA with the introduction of this league’s players. It seems right now, too, that Penn State is doing well with the new revision to eligible NCAA players.

The Pittsburgh Penguins named Todd Nelson, Nick Bonino and Rich Clune assistant coaches, as well as Troy Paquette as the team’s assistant video coach on Friday.

Goaltending coach Andy Chiodo will remain on head coach Dan Muse’s staff in the same role.

Nelson, 56, makes his return to the NHL level after spending the last three seasons as head coach of the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League from 2022-25. Nelson’s brief but successful tenure with Hershey included guiding them to back-to-back Calder Cup Championships in 2023 and ’24, and for his efforts, he was awarded the 2024 Louis AR Pieri Memorial Award given to the AHL Coach of the Year

While with Hershey, Nelson established a new AHL record, winning nine consecutive playoff series with the club. Overall with the Bears, Nelson went 141-53-12-10 for a .755 points percentage.

“With over two decades of coaching experience, Todd brings a championship pedigree and a winning history that speaks for itself,” Muse said. “He has consistently demonstrated an exceptional ability to get the most out of his players, most recently in Hershey, and his leadership qualities and wealth of experience will be a tremendous asset to our team as we continue to build a culture of excellence.”

A native of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Nelson’s full body of work includes over 20 years of coaching experience, including stints at the NHL and AHL in various roles. At the NHL level, Nelson briefly served as head coach of the Edmonton Oilers in 2014-15 and also had stops with the Dallas Stars (2018-22) and Atlanta Thrashers (2008-10), both as an assistant coach.

At the AHL level, Nelson has served as head coach with Hershey (2022-25), Grand Rapids (2015-18) and Oklahoma City (2010-15), winning the Calder Cup Championship on three separate occasions (2024, ’23, ’17), making him one of just six coaches in AHL history to win three league championships. Overall, his 450 regular-season wins at the AHL level rank fifth all-time, while his 73 postseason victories are third most in AHL history. Nelson was also an assistant coach with Chicago from 2006-08 and Grand Rapids from 2002-03.

Nelson, who was drafted by the Penguins in the fourth round (79th overall) of the 1989 NHL Draft, enjoyed an 11-year professional career across the NHL, AHL and Europe. The defenseman appeared in one game for the Penguins in 1991.

Bonino, a two-time Stanley Cup champion with Pittsburgh in 2016 and ’17, joins the Penguins coaching staff following a 15-year professional playing career across the NHL and AHL, with a brief stop in Austria’s top professional league. In total, Bonino skated in 868 career NHL regular-season games with Pittsburgh, San Jose, Minnesota, Nashville, Vancouver, Anaheim and the New York Rangers and recorded 159 goals, 199 assists, 358 points and is a plus-30.

“Nick’s understanding of what it takes to win at the NHL level is unmatched, and his unique experience as a player who filled many different roles over the course of his career will only help him as an assistant coach,” said Muse. “His familiarity with the Penguins organization, as well as my familiarity with him as a player, and person, made him a great fit for this role, and we’re excited to welcome him to our coaching staff as he enters the next phase of his career.”

Bonino, 37, played with Pittsburgh from 2015-17, and then re-joined the team briefly in 2023, recording 27 goals, 39 assists and 66 points in 146 regular-season games with the Penguins. The forward played an integral part of the Penguins’ back-to-back championships, recording eight goals, 17 assists and 25 points in 45 playoff games, including the series-clinching goal in Round 2 against the Washington Capitals in 2016. Bonino centered the iconic ‘HBK Line’ in the ’16 postseason along with Phil Kessel and Carl Hagelin.

Prior to turning professional, Bonino played three seasons of collegiate hockey at Boston University, where he won the National Championship with the Terriers in 2009. The Hartford, Connecticut native has also played in three World Championships with Team USA (2015, ’18, ’23), winning a bronze medal twice. Bonino was originally drafted in the sixth round (173rd overall) of the 2007 NHL Draft by the San Jose Sharks.

Clune, 38, joins the Penguins after one season as an assistant coach with the Anaheim Ducks. Clune began his coaching career within the Toronto Maple Leafs organization, beginning as a player development coach in 2022 and joining the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League as an assistant coach in 2023.

“Rich brings a wealth of knowledge across every level of professional hockey, spanning from his 15-year playing career to his time in development and coaching at the AHL and NHL levels over the past three years,” said Muse. “Rich’s experience in coaching, development and as a former player and captain will be extremely valuable in this role, and we’re excited for his addition to our coaching staff.”

The 2018 Calder Cup Champion with the Marlies had a 15-plus year professional career across the NHL, AHL and ECHL. The Toronto, ON native played in 139 career NHL games with Los Angeles, Nashville and Toronto, posting 22 points (7G-15A). Clune is a veteran of 593 career AHL games with Iowa, Manchester, Milwaukee and Toronto, tallying 151 points (57G-94A). He concluded his playing career with a seven-year stint in Toronto’s organization, serving as an assistant captain from 2015-20 and captain from 2020-22 prior to retirement.

Clune was originally drafted by the Dallas Stars in the third round (71st overall) of the 2005 NHL Draft.

Chiodo, 42, has spent the last seven seasons in the Penguins organization, including the last four (2021-25) as goaltending coach. Before that, Chiodo spent three seasons as the Penguins’ goaltending development coach from 2018-21 where he was responsible for working with young goaltending prospects throughout the Penguins organization in Europe, the minor leagues, juniors and college hockey.

Prior to his time within the Penguins organization, Chiodo spent the 2017-18 season as the goaltending coach for the Ottawa 67’s of the Ontario Hockey League.

Chiodo, a seventh round (199th overall) draft pick by the Penguins in 2003, enjoyed a 14-year professional career in the NHL, American Hockey League, ECHL and in Europe. The goaltender played eight career NHL games, all with Pittsburgh, in the 2003-04 season.

Paquette, 29, joins the Penguins organization as an assistant video coach under Video Coach Madison Nikkel. The native of Kingston, Ontario has spent the past four seasons (2021-25) as video coach of the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League. Prior to that, Paquette got his start in coaching with the Kingston Frontenacs of the OHL, where he served as video coach from 2018-21.