Rinkside Roundup: David Edstrom shining in the SHL, Gavin McKenna gets back on track

A plethora of scenarios can land a prospect on this list of the week’s top performances. However, a six-point game like the one Gavin McKenna had on Friday, or a 12-point week like the one Justin Poirier just completed, all but guarantee a spot in the Rinkside Roundup.

On the flip side, since production is so heavily affected by competition level, a prospect can put up five points in four SHL games like David Edstrom did this week and land comfortably on this list. It’s all about relative performance, week-to-week improvements, and finding a way to stand out.

Let’s dig in.

Gavin McKenna, LW, Medicine Hat Tigers (2026 NHL Draft)

Season Stats: 9G, 20A, 29PTS 

Last Week Stats: 4G, 5A, 9PTS

McKenna took some time to come out of his shell early in the Tigers’ season. With “only” eight points in his first six games, four of which were losses, it seemed that the 16-year-old would struggle to replicate his resounding success from last season. Elite Prospects Dir. of North American Scouting Mitch Brown had this to say about McKenna’s start to the campaign in his WHL Stock Watch article back in early October:

“Many of his best efforts just miss their target more often. There has also been an unusual amount of no-chance passes into closed lanes and carelessness with possession under pressure, uncharacteristic for McKenna, a rare high-volume, high-efficiency player.”

However, Mitch ended the McKenna segment with an important warning: “He even looks more explosive and dynamic in transition. Don't expect the slump to last for long.”

Word of advice: listen to Mitch.

Since that six-game slump, McKenna has totalled 21 points in 10 games, including a recent two-goal, four-assist effort on Friday in which he almost exclusively showed the complete opposite of the issues highlighted above. He controlled play with poise and control, making carefully executed passes through layers of pressure and blending delays into his deception attempts to ensure the passing lanes he tries to hit open properly. The smoothness, dynamism, pace and skill hasn’t gone anywhere, either – he’s just become more effective.

David Edstrom, C, Frölunda HC (Nashville Predators)

Season Stats: 3G, 8A, 11PTS

Last Week Stats: 1G, 4A, 5PTS

On the subject of becoming more effective – albeit in a different, well, everything; role, position, league, competition tier, you name it – David Edstrom’s recent performances have been trending upwards. Initially utilized around 16 to 18 minutes a night for Frölunda HC, Edstrom has seen his ice time cut down to about 14 a night, and has actually benefited from it quite a bit. While pivoting the third line for the SHL club, he managed to put up five points in four games this week, including a pair of two-point performances in back-to-back matchups against seventh-place club Skellefteå AIK.

The high-end skill still isn’t there with Edstrom, but he has turned solid habits into solid execution. He cuts back across the grain on entries when the royal-road passing lane is closed, out-waits and out-muscles defenders while getting off the boards, and now, he turns those habits into hard, accurate passes to trailers or pass-and-go net drives to jump on rebounds. 

While he is all about control defensively and in possession, Edstrom is all about creating chaos when it comes to off-puck offence. He drives the net, pushes back defenders, creates confusion with perpetual pocket-finding in the offensive zone, and positions himself between checks to create hesitation in opponents’ coverage.

Edstrom’s effectiveness in a third-line role gives a glimpse of what he is likely to be in the NHL once he earns a full-time spot with the Nashville Predators: a responsible, effective, physically-competent centre who will elevate a middle-six line and allow more gifted wingers to thrive.

Porter Martone, RW, Brampton Steelheads (2025 NHL Draft)

Season Stats: 16G, 16A, 32PTS 

Last Week Stats: 6G, 4A, 10PTS

The current points leader in the OHL is a draft-eligible – and a very good one at that. 

Porter Martone has continued to light it up for the Brampton Steelheads, scoring six goals and four assists in his four games this week. With his lone goal on Sunday, Martone’s six-game multi-point streak came to a halt, but he has still managed to put up at least a point in all but one of his games this year, and more than a point in all but three.

Martone’s goal-scoring, handling and playmaking skills are phenomenal, but the concern leading our team to shy away from putting him in the top-two conversation for the 2025 NHL Draft is that a lot of his sequences result in scoring chance creation – but not wins. At times, he overhandles, turns the puck over on breakouts, and struggles to use his pace throughout the game. With inconsistent physical involvement and mechanics, those issues would occasionally compound – Hail Mary stretch passes turned into low-effort transition defence, which then turned into an avoidable defensive zone shift. 

His four-point game against the North Bay Battalion on Friday was a major step in the right direction, however – he played out of his own zone with control, timed his transition routes well, put in some hard work on the forecheck, and made some great offensive decisions with the puck in dangerous ice. More of that, and he’ll cement himself as a top-two pick in the 2025 NHL Draft.

Clarke Caswell, LW, Swift Current Broncos (Seattle Kraken)

Season Stats: 5G, 19A, 24PTS 

Last Week Stats: 3G, 5A, 8PTS

After an up-and-down draft year in which he showed some phenomenal playmaking skills and added some board-battle tools, Clarke Caswell eventually failed to impress enough to earn a top-100 pick. The Seattle Kraken happily picked him up in the fifth round, hoping that the improvements in his physical skills would continue while he expanded his play-driving game.

In his five-point night against the Regina Pats, Caswell instead leaned into his support game, using quick touches, give-and-go attempts and sound offensive positioning to make his teammates’ lives easier, rather than being the primary puck-carrier. Not every offensive chance originated from him, but every single one flowed through him.

As Caswell develops, he might start to lean back into the play-driving skill we saw in his draft-minus-one season. That’ll be his ticket – not many undersized supporters stick long-term in the NHL unless they have the physical strength to retrieve pucks down low and fight for net-front positioning. Caswell doesn’t.

Justin Poirier, RW, Baie-Comeau Drakkar (Carolina Hurricanes) 

Season Stats: 16G, 12A, 28PTS 

Last Week Stats: 7G, 5A, 12PTS

At some point last year, Justin Poirier was looking like the best QMJHL talent of the 2024 NHL Draft class. His release has always been the main draw – powerful, quick, accurate and aided by sound mechanical details, from the weight transfers to the setup moves and everything in between. Despite the goal-scoring upside, a lot of teams saw a 5-foot-8 scorer from the QMJHL and said ‘’no thanks’’ – until the Carolina Hurricanes called his name at 156th overall.

After a quietly consistent first stretch of the year in which Poirier earned a point every game but rarely more than that, the Valleyfield-born winger took the struggling Gatineau Olympiques for a joyride over the weekend, scoring six points against them on Friday and adding two more goals on Saturday. This also came off the back of a four-point outing against the Québec Remparts, giving him a whopping 12 points over the three games he played this week.

Poirier’s offensive output will always flow through his shot and goal-scoring versatility, but his playmaking game has also taken some leaps, mainly aided by the synergy he has developed with centre Matyáš Melovský (New Jersey Devils). The two combined for a whopping 23 points over the past three games, stringing passes together with incredible ease. 

Not a particularly strong skater, Poirier will need to turn his shot into a game-breaking tool by even NHL standards while continuing to be the violent forechecker he is to fill an NHL role. His off-puck sense, more importantly, will need to become a cornerstone of his game. If he can get open, he will score – even if the feet and physical frame get in his way.