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Toronto Maple Leafs number one draft pick Gavin McKenna has already been on the ice with the team as it held its development camp this week, but the highly touted rookie will have to make a big change this fall.
Your number.
While playing for the Medicine Hat Tigers of the Western Hockey League and then again at Penn State last season, McKenna wore No. 72.
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Toronto Maple Leafs first-round pick Gavin McKenna has revealed that he will opt for a new number for his rookie campaign. (Photo by Brian Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images)
The expectation was that McKenna would wear No. 72 with the Maple Leafs, and he did so this week at development camp. Many fans have also requested number 72 jerseys with his name on the back.
In most templates, the number 72 is unique enough that you shouldn’t have any problems using it. However, on July 1, the Leafs signed two-time Stanley Cup champion goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, who has worn No. 72 for most of his career, except for his first two seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers, when he wore No. 35.
So some were wondering how this would work. Would the Leafs want their new franchise player to be able to choose from the pack of numbers, or would they defer to a two-time Vezina winner?
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Gavin McKenna wore number 72 as juniors, as well as last season at Penn State. (Photo by Richard T Gagnon/Getty Images)
Well, it turns out McKenna will be the one to swap numbers, switching to No. 92 this season.
McKenna had to get creative here because obvious changes to numbers were prohibited in Toronto. Adding 7 and 2 would make 9, but that was removed in honor of Charlie Conacher and Ted Kennedy.
Another option would have been to change the digits and go with the number 27, but it was retired in honor of Frank Mahovlich and Darryl Sittler.
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So, 92 is.
However, McKenna approached one of the three previous players to wear the number, Jeff O’Neill, to ask if he was comfortable with him wearing it.
It’s fair to say he liked the idea.
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McKenna will be a key piece of a Maple Leafs team looking to bounce back after a nightmare 2025-26 campaign in which they finished last in the Atlantic Division.
