Thu, 25 Jun 2026 12:31:07 EDT
Consider This Headline
The following headline occurs on the SPORTSNET YouTube channel. “Gavin McKenna is Ready to Potentially Become a Toronto Maple Leaf.”
McKenna is ready to potentially become a Toronto Maple Leaf? When does he potentially become a Maple Leaf? On draft day? McKenna is a potential Maple Leaf now because he is up for grabs at the forthcoming NHL draft, and the Maple Leafs have the first pick at the draft. This does not imply that he will be selected. Become does not need to be qualified. “Gavin McKenna is ready to become a Toronto Maple Leaf,” is accurate.
I will not use that clause for the same reason that the writer qualified become: the writer did not want readers to jump to a conclusion. In particular, the team or the league may complain if it believes a journalist has revealed a deal done in secret beforehand even though we all know that the deals are done beforehand. Instead I will put a direct quote in the headline to let McKenna speak for himself. I will use a sentence headline because I prefer sentence headlines.
My rewrite: “Gavin McKenna says, ‘it’d be pretty special,’ to become a Toronto Maple Leaf.”
Update June 26th: Gavin McKenna is a leaf.