2025-26 Toronto Maple Leafs General Discussion

[ZBBM]

Just went through the MLHS depth chart articles. Lots of wishcasting in there.

This is the least excited I've been about a Leafs team in about 10 years. They have one less superstar and added nobody in the forward group with any real juice. Tre's deadline gets in Laughton and Carlo are very underwhelming so far. Matthews' health is a question mark. No prospects of any great merit.

And we are being asked to watch months and months of boring Berube hockey in exchange for a better result in the playoffs — which didn't happen.

Not sure I'll be watching as much.

 

[OldTimeHockey]

Well that was.....depressing. Have you talked to anyone? We're here if you need us.

 

[Kaberle15]

They went to game 7 of the 2nd round in the Matthews era for the first time. Sure, they fucked up games 5 and 7 at home. But their were the only team to take tje Juggernaut Florida to 7 games. And they did it without their main goalie.

it is a kind of win. Or my glass is half full. or both.

 

[dappleganger]

They went to game 7 of the 2nd round in the Matthews era for the first time. Sure, they fucked up games 5 and 7 at home. But their were the only team to take tje Juggernaut Florida to 7 games. And they did it without their main goalie.

it is a kind of win. Or my glass is half full. or both.

The Leafs might have been the 2nd best team in the NHL last season. Still, it wasn't good enough.

 

[dappleganger]

Just went through the MLHS depth chart articles. Lots of wishcasting in there.

This is the least excited I've been about a Leafs team in about 10 years. They have one less superstar and added nobody in the forward group with any real juice. Tre's deadline gets in Laughton and Carlo are very underwhelming so far. Matthews' health is a question mark. No prospects of any great merit.

And we are being asked to watch months and months of boring Berube hockey in exchange for a better result in the playoffs — which didn't happen.

Not sure I'll be watching as much.

Having Carlo around for the entire season will pay dividends. Laughton might be a bit of a 'David Clarkson' type thing where people thought he was better than what he was, I guess we'll find out this season.

There is one prospect with great merit, Easton Cowan. He's been the predominant player on the best team in the OHL (CHL?). He won the 2025 Memorial Cup MVP, was a CHL Player of the Year nominee, along with winning the Red Tilson Trophy as the OHL MVP in 2024. He is the best prospect since the Nylander, Matthews, Marner days along with Knies. Nothing is certain but there is a lot of upside there. I imagine we'll see him in a Leafs uniform sometime this season.

If I were Treliving I'd be calling Pittsburgh. They have 4 NHL-calibre RH D-men. Maybe Karlsson wants a chance to try for a cup?

 

[Bender]

Having Carlo around for the entire season will pay dividends. Laughton might be a bit of a 'David Clarkson' type thing where people thought he was better than what he was, I guess we'll find out this season.

There is one prospect with great merit, Easton Cowan. He's been the predominant player on the best team in the OHL (CHL?). He won the 2025 Memorial Cup MVP, was a CHL Player of the Year nominee, along with winning the Red Tilson Trophy as the OHL MVP in 2024. He is the best prospect since the Nylander, Matthews, Marner days along with Knies. Nothing is certain but there is a lot of upside there. I imagine we'll see him in a Leafs uniform sometime this season.

If I were Treliving I'd be calling Pittsburgh. They have 4 NHL-calibre RH D-men. Maybe Karlsson wants a chance to try for a cup?

No chance I touch Karlsson.

 

[dappleganger]

No chance I touch Karlsson.

Why?

He could play 3rd pairing minutes with OEL on his proper side and could QB the power play. He would drive play.

Pittsburgh would probably have to retain $2m to make the numbers work, theoretically an $8m cap hit.

It'd be a huge upgrade for the team if it were to happen, pretty sizeable risk/reward too.

 

[L K]

I don't want to go too far defending Morgan Rielly's play last year but the difference between Rielly with 7G 34P while the Leafs largely played with a 5 forward powerplay (granted that was partially because of the poor performance with Rielly on PP1) and Erik Karlsson with 11G 53P playing PP1 on a thin Penguins team but ultimately still a team with Sidney Crosby

Karlsson is atrocious defensively. He was bad before his injuries but he makes Rielly look like a shutdown defender. To make salaries work you are likely trading Rielly. I don't see that as a team upgrade.

 

[Bender]

I don't want to go too far defending Morgan Rielly's play last year but the difference between Rielly with 7G 34P while the Leafs largely played with a 5 forward powerplay (granted that was partially because of the poor performance with Rielly on PP1) and Erik Karlsson with 11G 53P playing PP1 on a thin Penguins team but ultimately still a team with Sidney Crosby

Karlsson is atrocious defensively. He was bad before his injuries but he makes Rielly look like a shutdown defender. To make salaries work you are likely trading Rielly. I don't see that as a team upgrade.

He's also 35 with another year left. Hard pass.

 

[herman]

This is the least excited I've been about a Leafs team in about 10 years. They have one less superstar and added nobody in the forward group with any real juice. Tre's deadline gets in Laughton and Carlo are very underwhelming so far. Matthews' health is a question mark. No prospects of any great merit.

It's true they lost a superstar and didn't get back any real juice at the top. I will push back on the doom and gloom though. Season opening roster is never the playoff roster, and we now have something we have not had since Matthews entered the league: cap flexibility.

They may have lost a superstar, but he was also a superstar that used up a lot of minutes that could easily be shared amongst a committee of capable players. For whatever reason, the coaching staff deployed him in a very easy to shut down configuration that also nerfed other options. The top line got too much work and the depth lines never really got enough work to gain consistency. In a marathon of a season, I see little value in forcing a sprint-style deployment.

There are some gaps and some minor inefficiencies to address, and while they might be tricky to find, it's not impossible:

• Preserving Matthews' minutes: why not Kawhi the guy until the playoff drive, especially against the have-nots of the league?
• at least one more puck moving defenseman to facilitate rush chances from depth lines and PP1; or maybe a full season of Carlo unlocks Rielly and OEL
• physical, forechecking RW to unlock all the playmaking lefties the lineup is sporting (a la Alex Lafferriere)

 

[dappleganger]

He's also 35 with another year left. Hard pass.

Karlsson is still elite at many things that the Leafs defence lacks. Zone entries, passing, offence off the rush. L K is correct, his defensive game sucks but he'd be asked to play a sheltered 3rd pairing. He's be replacing Benoit, who also isn't good defensively.

 

[dappleganger]

I don't want to go too far defending Morgan Rielly's play last year but the difference between Rielly with 7G 34P while the Leafs largely played with a 5 forward powerplay (granted that was partially because of the poor performance with Rielly on PP1) and Erik Karlsson with 11G 53P playing PP1 on a thin Penguins team but ultimately still a team with Sidney Crosby

Karlsson is atrocious defensively. He was bad before his injuries but he makes Rielly look like a shutdown defender. To make salaries work you are likely trading Rielly. I don't see that as a team upgrade.

Leafs could make salaries work with about $2m retention without trading Rielly. I wouldn't swap Rielly for Karlsson. Karlsson would replace Benoit in the lineup.

Benoit and Robertson would have to leave in a return for Karlsson and the Leafs would have to move on from Jarnkrok to make the money work but theoretically it could happen.

The Leafs have about $5m in cap space with Jarnkrok and Kampf waived (they are currently looking like they are headed to the press box) and would have around $7.4m in cap space is they were claimed off waivers or traded.

The one reason you wouldn't make the move is if you have machinations that you could sign McDavid next summer.

 

[cabber24]

It's true they lost a superstar and didn't get back any real juice at the top. I will push back on the doom and gloom though. Season opening roster is never the playoff roster, and we now have something we have not had since Matthews entered the league: cap flexibility.

They may have lost a superstar, but he was also a superstar that used up a lot of minutes that could easily be shared amongst a committee of capable players. For whatever reason, the coaching staff deployed him in a very easy to shut down configuration that also nerfed other options. The top line got too much work and the depth lines never really got enough work to gain consistency. In a marathon of a season, I see little value in forcing a sprint-style deployment.

There are some gaps and some minor inefficiencies to address, and while they might be tricky to find, it's not impossible:

• Preserving Matthews' minutes: why not Kawhi the guy until the playoff drive, especially against the have-nots of the league?
• at least one more puck moving defenseman to facilitate rush chances from depth lines and PP1; or maybe a full season of Carlo unlocks Rielly and OEL
• physical, forechecking RW to unlock all the playmaking lefties the lineup is sporting (a la Alex Lafferriere)

I agree, it takes a team to win. Everyone can now be better allocated into roles and contribute in a more meaningful way. I still cannot believe that over the entire time of the core 4, they were never spread over 3 lines? We will never know. Depth scoring discussions drove me insane when the Leafs were so salary top-loaded, and lines 3 and 4 were so eclectic with bargain bin plugs.

 

[herman]

I agree, it takes a team to win. Everyone can now be better allocated into roles and contribute in a more meaningful way. I still cannot believe that over the entire time of the core 4, they were never spread over 3 lines? We will never know. Depth scoring discussions drove me insane when the Leafs were so salary top-loaded, and lines 3 and 4 were so eclectic with bargain bin plugs.

Their first season was pretty spread out, but that was the Babcock way, and because he was a b-hole he was therefore tactically wrong about everything.

Marleau-Kadri-Komarov
Hyman-Matthews-Nylander
JvR-Bozak-Marner

If we get a really good 6-8M forechecky RW for Matthews
Domi - Matthews - Reinhart-lite
McMann/Laughton - Roy - Nylander
Knies - Tavares - Joshua/Cowan

 

[cabber24]

Their first season was pretty spread out, but that was the Babcock way, and because he was a b-hole he was therefore tactically wrong about everything.

Marleau-Kadri-Komarov
Hyman-Matthews-Nylander
JvR-Bozak-Marner

If we get a really good 6-8M forechecky RW for Matthews
Domi - Matthews - Reinhart-lite
McMann/Laughton - Roy - Nylander
Knies - Tavares - Joshua/Cowan

Yes, you can compare those lines to FLD's.

 

[herman]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1962893791787876441

 

[CarltonTheBear]

The Toronto Maple Leafs announced today that the hockey club has signed goaltender Dennis Hildeby to a three-year contract extension. The deal is a two-way contract for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 seasons, followed by a one-way contract in 2027-28, carrying an average annual value of $841,667.

There it is. Obviously can't really find anything to complain about that from the Leafs side. Even if Hildeby doesn't turn into a NHL option, which is certainly possible, the deal is fine.

Really unsure what the benefit is here for Hildeby though. Especially as opposed to just accepting his 1-year qualifying offer. I assumed he was fighting for a one-way deal but he doesn't even get that here until year 3. Ah well.

Worth noting that Hildeby is only exempt from waivers for the first year of this deal.

 

[L K]

There it is. Obviously can't really find anything to complain about that from the Leafs side. Even if Hildeby doesn't turn into a NHL option, which is certainly possible, the deal is fine.

Really unsure what the benefit is here for Hildeby though. Especially as opposed to just accepting his 1-year qualifying offer. I assumed he was fighting for a one-way deal but he doesn't even get that here until year 3. Ah well.

Worth noting that Hildeby is only exempt from waivers for the first year of this deal.

I'm assuming his gamble is the 3 guaranteed years of salary. Barring injuries he's not playing in the NHL this year (with our tandem that's actually a decent chance he does get some games). There is a slightly better chance that a strong season could create a Mcelhinney/Sparks situation next year where you let Stolarz walk to keep the younger goaltender so really he's only sacrificing potential money in Year 3.

 

[L K]

It's true they lost a superstar and didn't get back any real juice at the top. I will push back on the doom and gloom though. Season opening roster is never the playoff roster, and we now have something we have not had since Matthews entered the league: cap flexibility.

They may have lost a superstar, but he was also a superstar that used up a lot of minutes that could easily be shared amongst a committee of capable players. For whatever reason, the coaching staff deployed him in a very easy to shut down configuration that also nerfed other options. The top line got too much work and the depth lines never really got enough work to gain consistency. In a marathon of a season, I see little value in forcing a sprint-style deployment.

There are some gaps and some minor inefficiencies to address, and while they might be tricky to find, it's not impossible:

• Preserving Matthews' minutes: why not Kawhi the guy until the playoff drive, especially against the have-nots of the league?
• at least one more puck moving defenseman to facilitate rush chances from depth lines and PP1; or maybe a full season of Carlo unlocks Rielly and OEL
• physical, forechecking RW to unlock all the playmaking lefties the lineup is sporting (a la Alex Lafferriere)

I know the playoff roster isn't the same as the Opening night one, but the Leafs are in such a poor position to make trades right now.

2026 1st - Traded to Boston (top 5 protection and turns into an unprotected 2027 1st if kept)
2026 2nd - Traded to Chicago for Jake McCabe
2026 4th - Traded to Minnesota for Connor Dewar
2026 6th - Traded for Cade Webber; Acquired SJS 6th for Timothy Liljegren
2026 7th - Traded to Dallas for Chris Tanev

2027 1st - Traded to Philly for Scott Laughton **** Unless They finish bottom 5 in 2026, this pick converts to a 2028 1st
2027 3rd - Tentatively traded to Utah for Maccelli (turns into a 2029 2nd round pick if he gets 51 points and the Leafs make the playoffs)
2027 6th - Traded as part of the Laughton trade.

We have a 2026 3rd, 5th and 6th round pic and a 2027 2nd, 4th, 5th and 7th round picks to trade. That's really not very good when we are acquiring Scott Laughton and Brandon Carlo for 1st round picks.

 

[Bender]

Leafs could make salaries work with about $2m retention without trading Rielly. I wouldn't swap Rielly for Karlsson. Karlsson would replace Benoit in the lineup.

Benoit and Robertson would have to leave in a return for Karlsson and the Leafs would have to move on from Jarnkrok to make the money work but theoretically it could happen.

The Leafs have about $5m in cap space with Jarnkrok and Kampf waived (they are currently looking like they are headed to the press box) and would have around $7.4m in cap space is they were claimed off waivers or traded.

The one reason you wouldn't make the move is if you have machinations that you could sign McDavid next summer.

Who are we trading to get Karlsson? Honestly this really doesn't seem plausible or at minimum very likely.