Will MacKinnon, a 26-year-old defenseman who grew up playing hockey in Plymouth and Canton, is taking his career overseas. MacKinnon signed with EC-KAC in Austria's ICE Hockey League (ICEHL) for the 2026-27 season, Inside The Rink reported in late July.

The move caps a five-year North American pro career that took MacKinnon from the ECHL's Reading Royals to the Adirondack Thunder, the AHL's Utica Comets, and most recently the Toledo Walleye and Cleveland Monsters. He becomes the second Walleye player to head to Europe this offseason, joining defenseman Riley McCourt.

MacKinnon's hockey roots run deep in the Plymouth-Canton area. He won a USA Hockey Tier 1 14U national championship in 2015 with Honeybaked AAA, attended TPH Center of Excellence in Canton, and played for the U.S. National Team Development Program in Plymouth before heading to the University of New Hampshire in 2018.

At UNH, MacKinnon played 119 games over four seasons and was named captain his senior year. He went undrafted. He turned pro with the Reading Royals in 2021-22.

His most recent season split between Toledo and Cleveland. With the Walleye, he posted a goal and five assists in 33 regular-season games with a plus-9 rating, then added a goal and three assists in 12 Kelly Cup Playoff games. Over his ECHL career, MacKinnon totaled 9 goals and 31 assists in 162 games. He added 3 goals and 7 assists in 89 AHL contests.

MacKinnon's father, Dan MacKinnon, served as assistant general manager of the New Jersey Devils during Will's time in the Devils organization. The Devils did not renew Dan's contract earlier in 2026.

EC-KAC is one of European hockey's storied clubs, with 32 Austrian championships to its name. The team finished second in the ICEHL regular season last year with 101 points in 48 games before falling in the quarterfinals. They play at the 4,409-seat Heidi Horten-Arena in Klagenfurt, where head coach Kirk Furey leads a roster that includes players from five countries.

MacKinnon will wear No. 3 for EC-KAC when the ICEHL season is expected to open in September.