Gavin McKenna has been named the CHL Player of the Year.
At just 17 years, five months and 24 days old, the Medicine Hat Tigers star becomes the third-youngest player ever to receive the honour.
The projected 2026 NHL Draft first overall pick joins an exclusive group of under-18 winners that includes John Tavares and Sidney Crosby — the only players to capture the award at age 16.
McKenna is one of just six players in CHL history to win the award before turning 18, and the first Tigers player to do so in franchise history.
He also becomes the fourth consecutive WHL skater to earn the honour, following Jagger Firkus (Moose Jaw Warriors), Connor Bedard (Regina Pats) and Logan Stankoven (Kamloops Blazers).
McKenna, a native of Whitehorse, Yukon, finished the 2024–25 campaign with 129 points (41 goals, 88 assists) in 56 games, riding a 40-game point streak that he extended to 54 games during the WHL Playoffs — a modern CHL record (since 2000) for longest single-season point streak across the regular season, playoffs and Memorial Cup.
