Gavin McKenna will go first overall in the 2026 NHL draft. It's not a matter of if, but when.

The 17-year-old continues to dazzle in the WHL, scoring a highlight-reel goal. When he gets drafted to the NHL, he will have been the fourth so-called "generational player" to be chosen in the past 12 drafts, joining Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews and Connor Bedard.

So it only makes sense that McKenna's not really a generational player, right?

It used to be players of this ilk came along once every 20 years or so. But youth hockey is producing players of such prodigious levels of talent that they're cropping up every couple of years now.

Today's video column has more.

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