As almost 160 of the CHL’s best stars make the move over to the United States to commit and test themselves at the NCAA level, two players including this years 6th overall pick in the NHL draft Porter Martone, along with projected number one overall pick next year Gavin McKenna are rumoured to play at Penn State University next season, as the Nittany Lions are poised for the NCAA’s next super line.
With the NCAA making those from all CHL leagues including the OHL, WHL, and QMJHL eligible to make the move over to the NCAA, already drafted first round picks like Porter Martone, Cayden Lindstrom, and future draft picks like Gavin McKenna are set to test themselves outside of Canada’s major junior leagues next season, but one team who could be set for a surge of beaming talent is Penn State.
Although both Martone and McKenna have yet to reveal their NCAA destinations for next season, it only seems convenient that newly drafted power-winger Porter Martone starts his Flyers development at Penn State where he would be destined to be a fan favourite. Not only is this a huge plus for Penn State by having one of the hottest prospects potentially join their programme, but it helps the Flyers themselves, having such a high level prospect, learn and improve on home soil, and a place where he can begin to learn and embrace the Philadelphia hockey culture. There are some amazing and already bonafide hockey programmes in the NCAA like Boston College, Michigan State, and Denver, but a player with the compete level, and high expectation for greatness like Martone would be an amazing plate to snap up under the new regulations. It is rumoured that Martone has yet to narrow his choices down, but after being drafted by the Flyers, and reportedly receiving a $250,000 plus NIL deal from the university back in May, the Brampton star could be lured in pretty easily to PSU.
But it may not end there for Penn State. Projected, and consensus number one overall pick in the 2026 NHL draft, and the Medicine Hat Tigers generational talent who has often been in conversation with Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby, Gavin McKenna has narrowed his NCAA choice down to two universities, Michigan State, and Penn State. A visit to the campus in last June indicates PSU could be the ideal spot for McKenna, and the improving roster with drafted stars like Jackson Smith already committing to the University may be enough to convince the star to join and make the move, and would not only push PSU to elite levels of hockey, but will elevate the NCAA's pull as a whole to another level. When a player with potential like McKenna has considered making a move, it means leaps and bounds for a league like the NCAA, and could mark a moment in time where the NCAA becomes more desirable for CHL talent in the future.
So, with Martone likely to join, and McKenna swaying two ways, the potentially deadly duo could be scary, and with even more CHL stars yet to make commitments, more could be on the way too. But, PSU, a team who isn't considered a hockey school could make a stratospheric leap to the top with these two hockey phenoms, and not only would their reputation and image elevate, but the hockey would be a spectacle no hockey nut would want to miss out on.
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