Toronto Maple Leafs rookie and top 2026 NHL draft pick Gavin McKenna is officially switching his jersey number following overlap with newly-signed Leafs goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky.
McKenna will wear No. 92 during his first NHL season, he told reporters Saturday (h/t TSN’s Mark Masters).
The number was based on a combination of Nos. 9 and 27, which McKenna liked but are both retired by the Leafs, according to Masters.
McKenna previously wore No. 72 while playing three seasons for the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers and one season for Penn State.
Bobrovsky, who was signed Wednesday by the Maple Leafs, has worn No. 72 for his last 14 NHL seasons with the Columbus Blue Jackets and Florida Panthers.
McKenna initially told reporters Thursday he didn’t expect to keep his former jersey number now that Bobrovsky had arrived in Toronto.
He added Saturday he had texted Bobrovsky and spoken with him on the phone about the jersey, per Masters.
“Any time you got a guy like that coming in who’s been in the league for that long, won two Stanley Cups, I’m not going to take his number,” McKenna said Saturday, per Masters. “So it was pretty easy for me to just give it to him.”
The jersey switch comes the day after McKenna officially signed his entry-level contract with the Maple Leafs.
The Leafs will now hope having Bobrovsky in net and McKenna as a potential linemate for Auston Matthews, each for the next three seasons, will help the franchise rebound from missing the playoffs last spring.
