San Jose will do battle with home-team Toronto tonight at Scotiabank Arena at 7:30. Two sub-plots promise to reign supreme in this matchup. The first involves the initial meeting between the top two 2026 draft picks in Leafs’ forward Gavin McKenna and Sharks’ forward Ivar Stenberg. The second also involves McKenna, as he will face Sharks’ captain and fellow first overall pick Macklin Celebrini for the first time.
McKenna and Stenberg were the subjects of a season-long debate in 2025-26 regarding who would be taken first overall this past summer. While the majority of prognosticators felt McKenna would take the top spot, many felt Stenberg, myself included, was the better choice. However, Stenberg recently stated his feeling that, in interviewing with the Leafs during the pre-draft scouting combine, the organization had already decided to take a different path. Obviously, the current sample size is much too small to declare who the better player is, although this first matchup may serve as a springboard towards the production necessary to hoist the Calder Trophy at season’s end. They do have very similar statistics this year, with McKenna registering 5 points (2G 3A) through 9 games, and Stenberg tallying 6 points (2G 4A) through 8 contests.
The second point of interest in this matchup is the clash of off-season training partners McKenna and Celebrini. Both are former first overall picks (McKenna this year, Celebrini in 2024), and Celebrini recently was named the NHL’s youngest captain at just 20 years of age. McKenna is quick to credit Hart Trophy contender Celebrini with showing him the work ethic required to be a true impact player at the NHL level. Celebrini went from a highly-productive 63 points (25G 38A) in his rookie year to an elite-level 115 points (45G 70A) in 2025-26, and is on pace to register a whopping 150 points this season. McKenna and Stenberg both seek to attain that sort of production.
