With the Olympic break upon us, the trade deadline is under a month away. Where does each team stand, and what moves should they be looking to make? We continue our look around the league at teams on the playoff bubble, next up: the Maple Leafs.
The Toronto Maple Leafs sit just six points out of a Wild Card spot with the Olympic break in full swing. Yet, the Maple Leafs season has felt far more disastrous, plagued by low-scoring stars and new faces unable to bring a spark. Toronto has tread water for much of the year and now face the difficult decision of whether to try and move up, or down, in the standings. Their stars are in their primes and playoffs are still in sight – but Toronto is also low on both assets and cap space. How they handle the 2026 Deadline could be the first push into new waters for the Maple Leafs organization.
Record
27-21-9 (6th in Atlantic Division)
Deadline Status
Sellers
Deadline Cap Space
$5.08MM on deadline day, 0/3 retention slots used, 46/50 contracts per Puckpedia.
Upcoming Draft Picks
2026: TOR 3rd, TOR 5th, SJS 6th
2027: TOR 2nd, TOR 4th, TOR 5th, PHI 6th, TOR 6th, TOR 7th
Trade Chips
The Maple Leafs moved much of their remaining trade assets to bring in Scott Laughton and Brandon Carlo at the 2025 Trade Deadline. One year later, Laughton could now sit at the top of Toronto’s market options – though certainly at a much cheaper price. He hasn’t found his footing in Toronto’s middle-six, with just 11 points in 39 games this season and 15 points in 59 games as a Maple Leaf. Laughton is also averaging just 13:43 in ice time on the year, his lowest mark since 2017-18. He still provides a veteran presence down the depth chart, and special-teams upside, that could be enough to sway a team looking to add to their bottom-six. After acquiring him for a prospect and a first-round pick, the Maple Leafs could hope to recoup a draft pick near the top of Day Two in another Laughton trade.
Toronto has two more options on the wings in Bobby McMann and Matias Maccelli. McMann has dug in a role in the Leafs’ middle-six with his breakaway speed and aggressive forechecking. He leads all Maple Leafs forwards in hits (126) and ranks sixth on the team in total scoring (32 points). It has, in some ways, been a career-year for the 29 year old, who seems to be finding his groove as the tenacious worker behind Toronto’s stars. That value and momentum could be both be shrewd adds on the open market, maybe even enough to swing Toronto back a roster player in the right package. Other teams will find a more skill-first – and surely, a cheaper – option in Maccelli. The speedster has been quiet in his first year with the Maple Leafs after a tremulous end to his time with the Utah Mammoth. He has 24 points and a minus-12 in 46 games this season. Maccelli projects as a bottom-six winger – even despite once reaching 40 assists in a single season. He is an upside buy who, like Laughton, could land enough of a return to help Toronto stock their cabinets.
Many of the remaining Maple Leafs veterans could find their way into trade discussions. Nicolas Roy has proven to be a standup, bottom-six center capable of playing both sides of the puck. He has 20 points and a plus-two in 54 games this season, making him one of only three Maple Leafs forwards with at least 20 points and a positive plus-minus. Roy has also won 53.6 percent of the 577 faceoffs he has taken this season. Toronto could also offer fourth-liners Steven Lorentz and Calle Jarnkrok to teams in need of more forwards.
Trade Needs
More Stake in the Future: With so little to offer, the primary focus of Toronto’s Deadline should be restocking their cabinets. The Leafs only have three picks in this year’s draft, which would tie their 2021 and 2023 classes for fewest in Maple Leafs history with no additions. Toronto made good work of those groups – landing Matthew Knies in the 2021 second-round and Easton Cowan in the 2023 first-round. But with so few prospects vying for NHL ice time, Toronto could benefit from giving their scouts a few more chances to find gems. The Maple Leafs could add two or three more picks before the fifth round by moving out some of their veterans on the fringe. Those deals would help Toronto hedge their bets for the rest of the 2020s, while also only expanding their space to land a big fish.
A Difference Maker: Even with Knies growing into the spot left by Mitch Marner, the Maple Leafs still seem to be missing a true difference-maker in the lineup. Toronto’s focus should only shift to buying if they’re able to land a player who can step into the top-nine right away. Landing a big fish like Nazem Kadri or Robert Thomas would require capital that the Maple Leafs simply don’t have; while focusing on veteran leaders like Boone Jenner or Brayden Schenn would risk repeating the Laughton trade. Toronto will have to find a way to bridge the gap and land the needle-pushers in the market’s second-layer. Smart negotiating could be enough to pull former Conn Smythe Trophy winner Jonathan Marchessault away from the struggling Nashville Predators for only a few picks. The same could be said about center Ryan O’Reilly who has no trade protection on his current deal – though chances of that are slim after his previous, and very brief, stint in Toronto. Instead, the Maple Leafs could look to pay a bit more for Vancouver Canucks wingers Conor Garland or Jake DeBrusk. Both bring strong impacts while Vancouver is certainly focused on the future after dealing away Quinn Hughes. Forwards Miroslav Holinka and Nicholas Moldenhauer could be interesting options to include in negotiations with some of the league’s rebuilders.
The Toronto Maple Leafs sit just six points out of a wild card spot. That’s where it starts, And ends. And again, Making the postseason is NOT an accomplishment.
It’s not just 6 points though, is it? They must get 6 points more than all the other team with the same points as them. More for ones above and less for ones below. If they get 6 points and the Bruins get 6 points then they still need 6 points.
you can’t be serious?
The Leafs could screw up a free lunch.
Ryan O’Reilly has doesn’t have trade protection, but the Predators have said that they won’t trade him unless he wants to go & at that point, they’d look to send him where he wants to go. Why would he want to go to a non-playoff team when he’d be a free agent in a few months & can choose where he want to play? Makes no sense. Also, if the Leafs are sellers, why would they be looking to trade for Marchessault who is 35 years old and probably on the down side of his career? That wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense
True on Marchessault. O’Reilly seemed to go to the highest, overpaying bidder. A team with little chance at competing. That’s a sell out and he gets what he gets. Players like that often find themselves not wanted and traded. The Leafs do not want players like that. He’d be gone to the highest bidder again first chance.
trade Nylander
Treliving will be canned before the end of June, never to be an NHL GM again.
Tremulous. Could you use that in a sentence, please?…oh, you did
The Maple Laffs are just screwed, and that’s the bottom line. They don’t have the assets to acquire anyone much worth having, and certainly not anyone who’s going to suddenly turn them into a Cup contender. They’d be too damn reliant on too many underperforming players to suddenly step up post-Olympic break. And for what, so that with a herculean effort they might make the 8th seed and get pounded by Tampa Bay?
Anyway, I *hope* they do all of that, and wipe out their draft capital completely. Seeing as I root for the Bruins. I very sincerely hope they *don’t* do anything sensible like pass on the season, unload McMann and Laughton for what picks they can get, and never again shackle themselves by handing out NMCs/NTCs like cupcakes.
If I’m TOR I’m not even sure where to start with a rebuild/re-tool. They have big names up front, but they’re mid-pack at scoring and their PP isn’t great. Their defense is mid-table at best. The goaltending has been tenuous for a while now. Their prospect pool is bottom-tier. I mean… where do you start? And does anyone trust Treliving to do it right?
Yeah, and this is where the NMCs screw them hard. For all the “trade Nylander!” bleating that goes on, they *can’t* — unless they sweet-talk Nylander into a “pretty please” that winds up being Panarin Deal 2.0, and they get 50 cents on the loonie for an elite star. (Say, bleating sheep, how did screaming “Trade Marner!” for a year work out for you guys?)
Not a lot of cap room, not enough talent, no real prospects, almost no draft capital, a defense corps all around or over 30. If I had to bet on the team most likely to be the next to go into a prolonged playoff drought, Toronto would be a strong contender.
Oh, there were plenty of Leafs fans shouting “Trade Marner” at the top of their lungs for a lot longer than a year. Including when his NTC hadn’t yet kicked in. And when the GM at the time spoke publicly of moving a core player, he was fired three days later. A few weeks after that the NTC kicked in.
What’s the old saying… the rot starts at the head? The fact that they had a President who hamstrung the ex-GM, and now they have no President above the GM who isn’t qualified to be one, is… astonishing. Nylander would absolutely be Panarin 2.0 so I don’t even know where they go from here.
Not trolling Leafs fans, but not many players want to go there with their families. The obsession with players and the impact of wins and losses on the general populations lives is borderline insane.
O’Reilly won his cup, loves Nashville, as does his family. Plus, he is not the spark and energy they need. O’Reilly is a guy that Tampa or a real good team would bring in to play 3C, win big draws and close out games. Not saying Tampa wants or needs him.
While there is some strategy to buying and selling when you are a bubble team, the best thing you can do is play to win and get in. that does more for the culture of your team and builds cohesion. Shuffling the deck freqiuently, hoping to stumble across the right chemistry is dumb in my opinion.
Mathews needs to go for a big haul of young talent and picks. It’s the only way to replenish the system quickly.
Cap is going up significantly in the coming years, a contender should be able to fit him in. Leafs absorb a bad contract to sweeten the return. Start over.
And it’s the same problem: no move clause. The prerequisite for ANYthing is to get Matthews’ permission.
Because look: if it wasn’t for the NMCs, Toronto’s BIG prize here would be Tavares. He’s had a lot of mileage, he’s 35, and he’s in decline. But he’s still playing at a high level, he could be the 2nd line center for damn near any team in the league, he’s on as team-friendly a deal as it gets, and he’s signed for three more years. Most teams would have to jump through giant cap hoops for Matthews or Nylander if they could at all. There isn’t a contender bar Edmonton that couldn’t fit Tavares’ contract in at the deadline. In a straight hockey deal alone, he’d fetch a mint.
If it weren’t for the NMC.