Blackhawks Passed on Player Before Legal Trouble

In recent days, we learned that Gavin McKenna was at the heart of a legal saga. The young attacker, seen as the best hope of the next draft, allegedly hit another student who verbally attacked his mother.

This is the story going around at the moment.

The biggest charge against the young man was, however, dropped, which means that the kid can breathe a little better. He is still facing three charges, but he no longer risks a big sentence.

However, we must ask ourselves what that means with a view to the next draft now. We know that McKenna is the favorite to emerge first in the upcoming amateur auction, but we have to wonder if what happened in the last few days will change all that.

And it’s interesting to note that according to Scott Powers, who covers the Blackhawks for The AthleticMcKenna’s legal saga means that there are less chances than before of seeing him end up in Chicago…

But according to Powers, it was already “unlikely” that it would happeneven before he got into trouble with the law.

The Florida Panthers’ first-round pick is top-10 protected, as @frank_seravalli reported.

So what happens if the Panthers do pick that early? That and more about the Blackhawks’ 2026 draft possibilities ⤵️

— Scott Powers (@ByScottPowers) February 6, 2026

This is all peculiar in that Powers also mentions in his text that the Blackhawks would like to add another top forward in the next draft (if only they could have drafted Ivan Demidov, hehe), and that the reporter sees guys like Ivar Stenberg, Tynan Lawrence and Caleb Malhotra being in the Blackhawks’ sights.

But obviously, we don’t seem to want McKenna… which is special.

It should also be remembered that McKenna is related to Blackhawks star Connor Bedard. The two are cousins by marriage (but we know they are very close despite everything), and the idea of seeing them play with the same team (and on the same line) in the NHL was appealing to people in Chicago.

The question now is whether other teams are particularly interested in drafting McKenna…especially with what’s happened over the past few days.

In burst

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Story at…

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He will be the “full version” of himself in 2026.

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