(TNS) – Gavin McKenna may be just 17 years old, but he’s already seen as a shoo-in to become the No. 1 overall pick in next year’s NHL draft — and he’s already been called a generational hockey talent, one in the same league as superstars such as Sidney Crosby and Connor Bedard.

And, based on the latest reports, it’s possible McKenna also eventually calls himself a Penn State Nittany Lion.

Puck Preps, which is known for ranking hockey prospects, recently said that the two front-runners to land McKenna are Penn State and Michigan State, with Happy Valley holding a “slight edge.” That report came just a few days after longtime Sportsnet hockey reporter Elliotte Friedman said on “32 Thoughts: The Podcast” that the Nittany Lions were the early favorites.

“I was asking a few people around hockey what they thought, and informal straw poll, I would say Penn State. That’s who the favorite is,” Friedman said, according to Sportsnet. “Nothing’s done until it’s done. I was told it would be premature to make any enormous proclamation. But I asked a bunch of people around and said if you had to pick where he’s going to play next year, most of them picked Penn State.”

Again, it remains early in the process — and it’s not yet even 100% that McKenna will jump to the NCAA instead of sticking with the Canadian Hockey League, where he just became the third-youngest player to win CHL Player of the Year. McKenna did it at age 17; Pittsburgh Penguins future Hall of Famer Sidney Crosby did it age 16, as did six-time NHL all-star John Tavares.

However, given the changing landscape with NLI, it’s believed a move to the NCAA would make the most sense financially for McKenna. Prior to this offseason, CHL players could not compete in the NCAA because the CHL was seen as a professional league that conflicted with the NCAA’s amateurism rules. With shifting regulations in the NCAA, that opened the window for players like McKenna to jump to the NCAA this upcoming season — and potentially get significant NLI money for the move.

If McKenna did jump to the college ranks, he would almost certainly just stay for the upcoming 2025-2026 season before declaring for the 2026 NHL Draft. He is already the consensus No. 1 overall prospect, with recent top-pick projections from The Athletic and EliteProspects.com. (He’s not eligible for the 2025 NHL Draft because he’s not yet 18.)

“He’s just a special, special player,” Team Canada GM Peter Anholt told “The SportsCage” podcast in December. “His hockey sense is off the charts. He can make plays that other guys don’t see, so you have to play him with smart players because they have to be in the right place to receive those passes.”

A decision from McKenna is not expected for at least another few weeks. McKenna’s longtime adviser, NHL alum Byron Ritchie, previously said nothing would be decided until after this year’s NHL draft from June 27-28.

The Nittany Lions’ season starts Oct. 3 with a two-game series on the road against Arizona State.

A lot of “maybes” and “what ifs” remain before McKenna makes his decision. But whatever the hockey wunderkind chooses, it could have an indelible impact on the NCAA and the hockey world. If the forward chooses to go the NCAA route, he would be among the first — and most high-profile — CHL stars to make the leap. His decision could be a watershed moment, one that has the potential to shift how future Canadian players approach their development. (In other words, the NCAA could partially supplant — or at least offer an alternative — to the CHL as an NHL-feeder league.)

It’s difficult to overstate the importance of McKenna’s decision here. Popular sports blog The Big Lead wrote an earlier headline that said McKenna “could change NCAA hockey forever.” Barstool Sports took it one step further last week, writing that, “Penn State could end up being the epicenter of the Hockey Universe” if McKenna signed there.

In 56 games this past season for the CHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers, McKenna finished with 41 goals and 88 assists for 129 points. (He failed to register a point in just three games all season.) That happened a year after he was named CHL Rookie of the Year and after he scored 10 goals and 10 assists over seven games at the 2024 IIHF World U18 Championships.

Penn State is coming off a memorable season as well, after making its first-ever Frozen Four appearance. And it’s already parlayed that into landing a pair of blue-chip recruits in defenseman Jackson Smith and forward Luke Misa.