[sureLoss]

eliteprospects has a free article analyzing McKenna's college play so far:

https://www.eliteprospects.com/news/...-at-penn-state

Though McKenna is generating less offence as the primary carrier off the rush versus the WHL, he remains an elite rush playmaker. When he gets a puck inside a bit of space, he draws in every possible defender and quickly finds an option with those same deceptive and adaptable passing skills. Plus, the delay game continues to be a weapon.

Combined, these skills have made McKenna a special playmaker in the NCAA already, even at 5-on-5.

In a hand-tracked six-game sample (that excludes games against Independent programs), McKenna is setting up scoring chances at a historic rate. His expected primary assists at 5-on-5, a metric that measures the likelihood of a player’s shot assists becoming a goal based on location, type, quality, etc., is 2.5 per 60, the same rate as his last season in the WHL.

That’s not just a higher rate than Macklin Celebrini and Adam Fantilli’s only NCAA seasons – it’s higher than both combined. In fact, it’s higher than every NCAA season I’ve ever tracked, Trevor Zegras, Gabe Perreault, Ryan Leonard, Will Smith, Jackson Blake’s 60-point season, and Frank Nazar’s deceptively incredible draft-plus-two year, and hundreds more. And he's shot or set up a higher percentage of his team's 5-on-5 offence than any other NCAA draft-year player by a gap that would be larger had it been compared to their results at the same stage of the season versus the end.

For fun, if McKenna’s linemates were converting at the same clip as Penn State’s top line – Charlie Cerrato, Matthew DiMarsico, and J.J. Wiebusch – he’d have 22 points and lead the entire NCAA in scoring.

In either of these scenarios, the narrative around McKenna would sure look a lot different, wouldn’t it?

But the NCAA season is shorter than most other leagues. Teams play around 40 games – if they’re great. Players can ride heaters all season long – and icy cold streaks, too. It’s why the NCAA has tons of one-season wonders, and why the scoring race doesn’t reflect NHL outcomes as much as other leagues.