Look. Lots of teams are going to take lots of different prospects to dinner. It usually doesn’t mean much. Sometimes, it means a lot, though.

Take last year’s draft, for example. News broke that the Canucks took Braeden Cootes out for dinner around this time last year. In fact, he was the only name we heard about. And sure enough, the Canucks drafted Cootes with the 15th overall pick last year.

But this is a new management regime, and, as you read earlier today, they’re not limiting the number of prospects they take to dinner to one. So, news of the Canucks taking Ivar Stenberg, Caleb Malhotra, and Chase Reid out to dinner this week, and no such stories about taking Keaton Verhoeff, Carson Carels, or Viggo Björck out (just yet)? That could help indicate how the Canucks feel about who they would like to draft at third overall. Emphasis on could.

Unfortunately, the news circulating about Gavin McKenna and the Vancouver Canucks isn’t likely to be one of those times when the dinner-date reports matter all that much.

On Wednesday, Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now reported that McKenna is having dinner with just the Canucks this week at the Combine in Buffalo. Peng even specified that McKenna isn’t going to dinner with the Maple Leafs or Sharks, who hold the first and second overall picks, respectively.

The chances of McKenna falling to the Canucks at third are incredibly slim.

Is McKenna going to Eric Lindros his way to the Canucks and tell the Leafs and Sharks he has no interest in being a part of their teams? Almost certainly not. But could you imagine?! No, no, let’s get back on track.

Are the Maple Leafs going to pass on McKenna with the first overall pick? Also, almost certainly not.

If the Leafs were to shock the hockey world and pass on McKenna at first overall, would the San Jose Sharks also pass on McKenna, who lit it up in the second half of his NCAA season at Penn State as a just-turned 18-year-old? Almost certainly not.

So no, the report that McKenna is only going to dinner with the Canucks this week likely doesn’t mean much, but don’t let that stop you from having a good laugh and imagining the frenzy that would follow if it did end up meaning a whole lot more than we think.