The Maple Leafs selected F Gavin McKenna with the first overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft on Friday, and singer Justin Bieber, a “longtime Leafs fan,” was on hand to make the announcement. On the draft stage at Keybank Center, Bieber said, “Mr. McKenna, we would like to draft you to the Toronto Maple Leafs.” McKenna, a native of Whitehorse, Yukon, walked up to Bieber’s song “Yukon” (ROLLING STONE, 6/26). Mckenna still “wasn’t absolutely sure the Maple Leafs were going to take him with the first pick in Friday night’s NHL draft” until he “locked eyes” with Bieber on the stage. McKenna: “He was looking at me and I started thinking, yeah” (TORONTO STAR, 6/26).
Whatever it is the NHL paid Bieber to show up at the draft Friday, the league should “demand a refund of some kind.” Bieber had “one line to say -- and he messed it up.” It was Bieber’s job to stand beside NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and “say something along the lines of: ‘With the first pick in the 2026 NHL draft, the Toronto Maple Leafs are proud to select from Penn State University, Gavin McKenna.’” It “couldn’t have been easy getting Bieber, and it certainly wasn’t cheap.” And in the end, it “sure wasn’t worth it” (TORONTO SUN, 6/28).
