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