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By Michael Gallagher
Sports Content Coordinator
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When the Toronto Maple Leafs selected Penn State forward Gavin McKenna with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NHL draft last week, many presumed he would be the favorite to win the 2027 Calder Trophy.
But that’s not the case.
McKenna does have the second-best odds (7/2) of winning the NHL’s Rookie of the Year award, but the current preseason favorite to win the Calder is Philadelphia Flyers forward Porter Martone, the sixth overall pick in the 2025 draft.
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After getting drafted by the Flyers, Martone established himself as one of the top forwards in college hockey last year. He totaled 25 goals and 50 points in 35 games for Michigan State, and he signed his entry-level contract and joined Philadelphia at season’s end.
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He tallied our goals and 10 points in nine regular-season games, and he emerged as a scoring threat in the playoffs as well, notching two goals and five points in 10 postseason outings.
McKenna, on the other hand, tore it up in his final two seasons in the Western Hockey League before jumping to the NCAA last year. He scored 34 goals and 97 points in 61 games in 2023, and followed it up with a 41-goal, 129-point season the next year.
As a freshman at Penn State, McKenna logged 15 goals and 51 points in 35 games en route to winning the Big Ten scoring title and being named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year as well as an All-Big Ten second-team selection and an All-Big Ten Freshman Team selection.
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If the 19-year-old McKenna does make the jump to the NHL next season, he will likely play somewhere in Toronto’s top six along with other talented forwards Auston Matthews, William Nylander, Matthew Knies, John Tavares, and Easton Cowan.
The eight players with the best betting odds to win the 2027 Calder Trophy are listed below.
- Porter Martone, Philadelphia Flyers, 3/1 odds
- Gavin McKenna, Toronto Maple Leafs, 7/2 odds
- Ivar Stenberg, San Jose Sharks, 6/1 odds
- Cole Hutson, Washington Capitals, 8/1 odds
- Anton Frondell, Chicago Blackhawks, 9/1 odds
- Ilya Protas, Washington Capitals, 12/1 odds
- Konsta Helenius, Buffalo Sabres, 14/1 odds
- James Hagens, Boston Bruins, 16/1 odds
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