The Maple Leafs have signed their first overall draft pick, Gavin McKenna.
The three-year ELC has a cap hit of $1.075 million, plus up to $3.5 million in bonuses each season. An explanation of performances bonuses can be found below.
Officially official 🔵⚪️ pic.twitter.com/qEYSFHSIUg
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) July 3, 2026
Safe to say this is a far cry from Leo Carlsson's $18 million x 5 year second contract. Maybe in three seasons?
PuckPedia has all the numbers:
ELCs for top players usually contain performance bonuses for various types of statistical achievements or for games played in the NHL. The only other players who can have bonuses in their contracts are over 35 on a qualifying deal or returning from a injury.
Go here for a complete explanation:
For the purposes of normal cap management, only the salary and signing bonus averaged over the term counts against the cap, aka the cap hit. If bonuses are earned, they are paid out at the end of the year. The bonus can be absorbed into a cushion equal to 7.5% of the cap ceiling if the team doesn't have the space. Whatever got soaked up by the cushion is rolled onto the cap calculation for the next year. Sometimes that's ideal – in a rising cap environment – and sometimes not – if the team has big salaries coming online the next year.
For a player like McKenna who is unlikely to play anywhere but the NHL, there is no need to be concerned about bonuses, but one wrinkle is that players in the AHL recalled onto a team using LTIR to fit them into the lineup count at their cap hit plus any earnable bonuses on the books. In other words, their AAV. This is the main reason teams try to restrict bonuses in ELCs to players who are likely NHL-ready or close to it.
Note that signing bonuses are essentially part of the regular salary, just paid out at the time the contract is signed and then annually thereafter. They are treated just like regular salary under the cap rules.
From the press release:
McKenna, 18, recorded 51 points (15 goals, 36 assists) in 35 games with the Penn State Nittany Lions during the 2025-26 season. Prior to joining Penn State, McKenna had registered 244 points (79 goals, 165 assists) in 133 games with Medicine Hat of the Western Hockey League. In 2024-25, he recorded 38 points (nine goals, 29 assists) in 16 playoff games, helping lead Medicine Hat to a WHL Championship. He was named the 2024-25 CHL Player of the Year after leading the Canadian Hockey League in scoring with 129 points (41 goals, 88 assists) in 56 games.
On the international stage, McKenna has represented Canada at numerous events, winning gold medals at the 2024 IIHF U18 World Championship and the 2024 Hlinka Gretzky Cup. He also represented Canada at the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship, recording 14 points (four goals, 10 assists) in seven games.
Gavin McKenna was HYPED watching the Portugal vs Croatia game in Toronto 👀
— Leafslatest (@Leafslatest) July 3, 2026
🎥: motalksofficial / IG#leafsforever pic.twitter.com/rnxFQuoWAS
