Winnipeg Jets miss winning the draft lottery and Gavin McKenna by only inches
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Daniel Lucente
May 6, 2026 (9:17)
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Photo credit: Dan Rainville / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Gavin McKenna was one lottery ball from Scott Arniel's Winnipeg Jets, and that miss now hangs over the whole build.
The Jets didn't just lose a lottery. They watched the door crack open, then slam shut with the kind of sequence a front office remembers for years.
Winnipeg finished 35-35-12 with 82 points, sitting 26th overall and outside the playoff picture. That gave the franchise lottery hope, not control.
The Jets were a -29 team, and McKenna would've changed the conversation from patching holes to building around a headline talent.
Toronto won the lottery and moved to the No. 1 pick, putting the Maple Leafs in position to control the top of the 2026 draft.
The clip makes it worse for Winnipeg: the ball marked 8 slides through early, and the whole board turns before the Jets can cash in.
Winnipeg's near-miss changes the offseason pressure
This isn't a normal «almost.» It's a roster-planning gut punch, because McKenna would've given Winnipeg a clean offensive identity overnight.
Arniel's club scored 231 goals, and that number explains why the lottery mattered so much. The Jets need more than another bottom-six tweak.
They also gave up 260, so the blue line and crease still need attention. But elite young offense is harder to find than defensive structure.
Kevin Cheveldayoff now has a tougher job: sell patience without the prize. Fans saw the ping-pong ball path, and nobody wants a soft reset after that.
Winnipeg can't treat this as bad luck and move on. The roster needs a sharper top-six plan, more controlled entries, and a power play that scares teams.
McKenna nearly became the shortcut. Now the Jets have to build the long way, with the pressure louder than it was before the lottery machine started spinning.
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