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Felony aggravated assault charge against 2026 NHL Draft top prospect Gavin McKenna dropped, lesser charges remain
Photo credit: Steven Ellis/Daily Faceoff
Earlier this week, news broke via Penn State’s student newspaper, Onward State, that Gavin McKenna, one of the top prospects for the upcoming 2026 NHL Draft and a star freshman with Penn State’s men’s hockey team, faced several charges following an incident following Penn State’s outdoor game over the weekend.
On Friday, following a review of the evidence following the initial arraignment, the District Attorney’s Office of Centre County opted to drop the felony aggravated assault charge against McKenna. WJAC TV was the first to report this.
Here’s a snippet of the District Attorney’s press release on the matter:
In order to establish probable cause for the crime of Aggravated Assault, the Commonwealth must establish that a person acted with the intent to cause serious bodily injury or acted recklessly under circumstances showing an extreme indifference to the value of human life. Both the District Attorney’s Office and the State College Police Department have reviewed video evidence of this incident and do not believe that a charge of Aggravated Assault is supported by the evidence. Accordingly, the District Attorney’s Office will be withdrawing the felony count of Aggravated Assault and correcting the record regarding the injuries suffered by the victim. A review of the video does not support a conclusion that Gavin McKenna acted with the intent to cause serious bodily injury or with reckless indifference to the value of human life.
McKenna still faces three lesser charges related to the incident: a misdemeanour simple assault charge, as well as summary offences for harassment and disorderly conduct. The preliminary hearing for these charges is scheduled for this coming Wednesday.
(Based on the conversations I’ve had with people that know a lot more about legal and courtroom procedures than I do, reviewing and adjusting charges prior to preliminary hearings is fairly common, and it’s not unusual to have charges dropped or adjusted at or prior to the hearing.)
A product of Whitehorse, Yukon, the 18-year-old McKenna is in his freshman season with Penn State following two standout seasons with the Western Hockey League’s Medicine Hat Tigers. McKenna was once thought to be a runway choice for the first overall selection in the 2026 NHL Draft, but some growing pains while adjusting to the NCAA game, as well as some strong performances by other top prospects, has made McKenna’s top spot a bit more contested than many had anticipated. The Flames are expected to pick early in the upcoming draft.
We’ll have more on this story as it develops.
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