McKenna commits to Penn State

[Standing Room Smoking Cigs]

Is another year of suffering, help us land a player from Pegs other Squad? Is worth it?

[steveoath]

Apparently he’s making 700K from this decision too. 

[Turbo44]

As in Gavin? Penn state must really be trying to build up the hockey program

[Mr. MVP]

3 hours ago, steveoath said:

Apparently he’s making 700K from this decision too. 

Football players are getting 5 million plus.  Crazy how little hockey gets. 

[PromoTheRobot]

16 minutes ago, Mr. MVP said:

Football players are getting 5 million plus.  Crazy how little hockey gets. 

It's all revenue driven.

[Eleven]

52 minutes ago, Mr. MVP said:

Football players are getting 5 million plus.  Crazy how little hockey gets. 

Just like major league pro sports, minor league pro sports pay football and basketball more.

I wonder how much of the 700K due to Pegula.

Edited yesterday at 12:28 PM by Eleven

[Mr. MVP]

1 hour ago, PromoTheRobot said:

It's all revenue driven.

Doesn’t have to be with NIL.  Terry could’ve offered McKenna 3 million to come to Penn St if he wanted to.  Rules have gone out the window in college athletics. 

[shrader]

Remember the outrage around here from a poster or two when Auston Matthews went to that pro league in Switzerland instead of major junior?  Well look where the hockey world has gone now.

[pi2000]

It will be interesting to see if his production drops playing against 23-24 years olds.

Will all these kids transferring from the CHL to the NCAA see their draft stock drop as a result?  

Edited yesterday at 02:49 PM by pi2000

[pastajoe]

7-foot tall and 250 pounds defenseman has committed to play at Penn State.

 

[Eleven]

^ That one has plenty of time to change his mind. An NCAA commitment announcement two years ahead is about as reliable as a broken compass.

[Standing Room Smoking Cigs]

7 hours ago, pastajoe said:

7-foot tall and 250 pounds defenseman has committed to play at Penn State.

 

Yikes

[will]

17 hours ago, Turbo44 said:

As in Gavin? Penn state must really be trying to build up the hockey program

build it up?  they were in the frozen four this past year.

[shrader]

35 minutes ago, will said:

build it up?  they were in the frozen four this past year.

They’re trying to buy a championship. 

[aristocrat]

17 hours ago, pastajoe said:

7-foot tall and 250 pounds defenseman has committed to play at Penn State.

 

He’s playing the wrong sport with that size 

[Standing Room Smoking Cigs]

With the money being thrown around, the age ranges and the new CBA of holding draft picks. I fear for the minor leagues. Rochester is on notice...

[LGR4GM]

14 minutes ago, Standing Room Smoking Cigs said:

With the money being thrown around, the age ranges and the new CBA of holding draft picks. I fear for the minor leagues. Rochester is on notice...

I don't. Unsure what the bold means. 

As for Rochester, most of the NCAA hockey players are not getting 700k to play in the NCAA, they might get 50k plus their tuition. Further, not everyone will go the NCAA route and lots of jr players and Euro players will be around. On top of all of that, the non top NCAA guys will still need AHL time and they will still be motivated to leave college to get paid. McKenna is getting 700k, sure but he's not going to stay in college or ever play in the AHL anyways. 

[shrader]

3 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

I don't. Unsure what the bold means. 

As for Rochester, most of the NCAA hockey players are not getting 700k to play in the NCAA, they might get 50k plus their tuition. Further, not everyone will go the NCAA route and lots of jr players and Euro players will be around. On top of all of that, the non top NCAA guys will still need AHL time and they will still be motivated to leave college to get paid. McKenna is getting 700k, sure but he's not going to stay in college or ever play in the AHL anyways. 

What’s the source on this $700k? I’d imagine he’s got money coming from a few different places this year. 

[inkman]

24 minutes ago, Standing Room Smoking Cigs said:

With the money being thrown around, the age ranges and the new CBA of holding draft picks. I fear for the minor leagues. Rochester is on notice...

As if the city of Rochester did something wrong 

[LGR4GM]

26 minutes ago, shrader said:

What’s the source on this $700k? I’d imagine he’s got money coming from a few different places this year. 

Reports say NIL money and Penn State has a big ole pot of that. I think that 700k is specifically just his NIL money deal with Penn State but hard to say as there isn't anything super concrete. 

Here's a good article on NIL in hockey

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6481261/2025/07/09/gavin-mckenna-ncaa-penn-state-nil-chl/

Quote

McKenna’s package, all in all, is rumored to be upwards of $700,000 USD — or in and around a million CAD. (I haven’t been able to verify that number with people connected to McKenna, but it’s the biggest package ever given to a college hockey player.)

 

Edited 3 hours ago by LGR4GM