Calle Järnkrok Listed As Questionable With Lower-Body Injury
- According to Terry Koshan of the Toronto Sun, forward Calle Järnkrok is questionable for the Toronto Maple Leafs tomorrow night due to a lower-body injury. Järnkrok missed the team’s practice today and has dealt with lower-body injuries over the past few years. He’s registered three goals in eight games for the Maple Leafs this season, but has already sustained a -5 rating in the team’s middle-six.
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Maple Leafs Reassign Dennis Hildeby
10/26/2025: As was expected due to the nature of yesterday’s call-up, the Maple Leafs announced Sunday morning that they reassigned Hildeby back to the AHL. Hildeby backed up Primeau for the team’s 4-3 overtime victory over the Buffalo Sabres yesterday, and now returns to the AHL, where he’s expected to spend most of the season.
In Hildeby’s absence, Artur Akhtyamov started the Marlies’ game yesterday, saving 19 of 23 shots in a 4-2 loss to the Belleville Senators.
10/25/2025: Heading into the back half of a back-to-back set against Buffalo, the Maple Leafs have added some extra goalie depth. The team announced (Twitter link) that goaltender Dennis Hildeby has been recalled from AHL Toronto.
With Joseph Woll away from the team to start the season, it looked as if the 24-year-old would serve as the backup for Anthony Stolarz. However, when they claimed Cayden Primeau off waivers at the end of training camp, that was the end of that idea as instead, Hildeby was sent down to the Marlies while Primeau served as the backup.
Hildeby hasn’t received much playing time with the Marlies either, getting into just two games where he has allowed just two goals on 53 shots. Toronto has played just four AHL games in the early going with Hildeby splitting time with prospect Vyacheslav Peksa.
There isn’t a notable injury situation between the pipes for the Maple Leafs as instead, the plan is to simply give Stolarz a rest day after a heavy workload to start the season in Woll’s absence. Toronto doesn’t have an open roster spot so it appears they’re using a CBA exception that allows them to bring up an extra goalie as a 24th player. It’s something that can only be used twice in a season and for a maximum of 48 hours each time so Hildeby’s time with the big club will be short-lived as he’ll likely be sent back down following the game or sometime on Sunday.
Maple Leafs Attempted Summer Trade Of Nicholas Robertson
Winger Nicholas Robertson will serve as a healthy scratch for the first time this season when the Toronto Maple Leafs visit the Buffalo Sabres on Friday. Robertson’s move out of the lineup comes after he recorded just one assist, and a minus-four, through the first four games of Toronto’s season. He’ll be replaced by rookie winger Easton Cowan, once again sparking concerns over Robertson’s ability to stick in the everyday lineup.
Those worries have led to plenty of trade rumors in the past. Now, it’s been revealed that the Leafs tried to bring those rumors to fruition this summer by offering Robertson to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for fellow trade-block winger Yegor Chinakhov, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman in the latest 32 Thoughts article.
The move was ultimately rejected – for good reason. Chinakhov is a former first-round selection, going 21st-overall to Columbus in a shocking move at the 2020 NHL Draft. He’s since racked up 34 goals and 72 points in 178 games in the NHL. His best year so far came in 2023-24, when he scored 16 goals and 29 points in 53 games. Those numbers trump Robertson in both longevity and peak. A former second-round pick, Robertson has since recorded 57 points in 163 NHL games, with a single-season high of 27 points in 56 games also recorded in 2023-24.
Looking beyond the stats still favors Chinakhov in a direct matchup. Both players are volume shooters who don’t rack up many hits, blocks, or takeaways – but Chinakhov’s 6-foo-1, 200-pound frame helps him win space more frequently than the 5-foot-9, 180-pound Robertson. That imbalance would likely force Toronto to include an added incentive to swap the two wingers, which could have been the barrier that ended trade talks. Chinakhov also walked back his requests for a trade after a conversation with first-year Blue Jackets head coach Dean Evason.
While news of a rejected trade won’t help Toronto moving forward, it does make the vision around Robertson’s market a bit clearer. He isn’t tempting enough to sit at the same value as other struggling, young wingers – surely in part thanks to his struggles to hold a nightly role. As he heads back to the press box for the first time this season, the Maple Leafs will no doubt continue their search for a change of scenery for their depth shooter. Robertson has averaged 16 goals and 29 points per 82 games played – modest numbers should if he can maintain them through an 82-game season.
Joseph Woll Returning To Maple Leafs From Personal Leave
The Maple Leafs announced Friday that goaltender Joseph Woll will begin the return-to-play process after missing more than a month while on personal leave. He was retroactively placed on long-term injured reserve yesterday and will remain there until the club’s doctors clear him to return to game action.
Woll took an indefinite leave of absence to deal with a family matter less than a week into training camp. He never entered the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program during his absence, so his return can be managed entirely at the team’s discretion. The team clarified at the time that Woll’s absence was not substance-abuse related but did not issue any further comment.
Having Woll’s return on the horizon is a welcome sight. The Maple Leafs haven’t gotten great performances out of starter Anthony Stolarz or waiver claim Cayden Primeau in his absence. Stolarz has seemingly struggled with a higher-than-normal workload, starting six of seven with a 2-3-1 record, .894 SV%, and 3.01 GAA. Those below-average numbers translate to a similarly unimpressive -1.6 goals saved above expected figure, per MoneyPuck. That’s still not as subpar as the -1.7 GSAx that Primeau put up in his lone appearance, a 7-4 win over the Predators on Oct. 14 that saw him allow four goals on 30 shots.
Meanwhile, the 27-year-old Woll has yet to have a below-average showing in any of his four NHL seasons. He was especially excellent last year, starting a career-high 41 games with a 27-14-1 record, .909 SV%, 2.73 GAA, and 16.8 GSAx. He was 11th in the league in that latter stat, proving his three-year, $11MM extension he signed in 2024 to be one of the better-value deals among goaltenders.
Getting that type of play out of Woll in his return would help buoy a Maple Leafs club that’s struggled on both sides of the puck to begin 2025-26. The team ranks in the bottom half of the league in both shots for and shots against per game, although above-average finishing still has them scoring 3.43 goals per game for 10th in the NHL.
Maple Leafs Shift Woll From IR To LTIR
- PuckPedia noted today that the Toronto Maple Leafs shifted injured netminder Joseph Woll from standard injured reserve to long-term injured reserve (LTIR). Puckpedia also noted that after their recall of defenseman Dakota Mermis today, the club has $3.63MM in cap space remaining with 23 healthy players on its roster. Woll took a personal leave of absence in September, and no further update on his status has been provided, nor has there been any further reporting on the matter. Today’s roster move does suggest the Maple Leafs could be without Woll for some time, though. The 27-year-old was expected to share a tandem with Anthony Stolarz this season after putting together a solid 2024-25, a year where he posted a .909 save percentage in 42 games. Woll’s absence prompted the club to claim Cayden Primeau off of waivers before the season, and Primeau has won his only start as a Maple Leaf thus far – a 7-4 victory on Oct. 14 in which Primeau saved 26 of 30 shots.
- Former Maple Leafs GM and Hockey Hall of Fame Inductee Brendan Shanahan has taken up a role with the NHL’s Hockey Operations department, according to TSN’s Darren Dreger. Dreger added that he “would expect Shanahan would be a leading candidate if a team makes a significant change and an opportunity presents to lead another NHL club.” There is a precedent for such a move – Ken Holland worked for the league office for a relatively brief period before his hire as GM of the Los Angeles Kings. This isn’t the first time Shanahan, who ran the Maple Leafs’ hockey operations department for 11 years, has worked for the league office: he previously served as head of the NHL’s Department of Player Safety from 2011-12 through 2013-14.
Maple Leafs Place Chris Tanev On Injured Reserve
The Maple Leafs announced they’ve placed right-shot defender Chris Tanev on injured reserve, retroactive to the club’s 5-2 loss to the Devils on Tuesday. Tanev is dealing with an upper-body injury and will be ineligible for the next three games at a minimum. Lefty Dakota Mermis was called up from the AHL to take Tanev’s spot on the active roster.
Tanev is no stranger to injuries, although he’s had a healthy run in the past few years, playing 70-plus games in three of the last four seasons. Today’s news doesn’t necessarily put that mark in jeopardy. Head coach Craig Berube only called Tanev questionable for Friday’s game against the Sabres when he spoke yesterday and said he was feeling better. While he obviously won’t be playing now, it indicates he’s not expected to miss much time past the seven-day minimum.
Tanev, 36 in December, only logged 5:57 of ice time against New Jersey before leaving the contest. Early in the second period, he was on the receiving end of incidental head-to-head contact with Devils forward Dawson Mercer during a net-front scrum and immediately headed to the locker room (video via TSN). Removing that outlier from the figure, Tanev is averaging around 19:40 of ice time per game – right at the mark he saw last year, his first in Toronto. The 16-year vet landed with the Leafs in free agency in 2024 on a six-year, $27MM pact and has been a top-four fixture ever since. He’s spent most of that time on a pairing with Jake McCabe. The duo is controlling 45.9% of expected goals through seven games, per MoneyPuck, yet they’re still outscoring opponents 3-2 at 5-on-5. That’s down sharply from their 55.1% mark last year, which ranked 14th among 41 pairings to log at least 600 minutes together in 2024-25.
On the scoresheet, the Toronto native had one assist, a plus-three rating, and two hits through seven outings. Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who has been playing on his off side in third-pairing duties with Simon Benoit, will be the leading candidate to replace Tanev in top-four duties alongside McCabe for the next few games.
It’s unclear if Mermis will get a shot in the lineup. Toronto has been carrying righty Philippe Myers as a healthy extra since the start of the season, but he hasn’t played. Losing a righty to injury would seemingly give the edge to Myers to make his season debut in Buffalo tomorrow.
Mermis, 31, comes up after clearing waivers late in training camp. He re-upped with the Leafs this summer on a two-year, league minimum contract after initially signing a one-year deal with Toronto in 2024. He spent a brief chunk of last season in Utah after they claimed him off waivers, but Toronto grabbed him back when he was exposed on the wire again. He got into four NHL showings, three of which were with the Leafs, with one assist and a minus-two rating. He has 78 career games since debuting with the Coyotes back in 2017-18, carrying a 4-9–13 scoring line with a plus-three rating while averaging 14:30 per game.
Mermis can remain on Toronto’s active roster for up to 30 nonconsecutive days or play 10 games until he needs to clear waivers again to return to the AHL. He’s without a point in two minor-league games to begin the season but has a plus-two rating.
Scott Laughton To Resume Skating
There’s no question the Toronto Maple Leafs have struggled out of the gates to begin the 2025-26 campaign. Fortunately, they could get a boost to the bottom-six of their forward core relatively soon in the form of Scott Laughton.
However, Laughton’s return is unlikely to resolve the issues plaguing the Maple Leafs this season. The team’s power play is currently tied for 28th in the league with a 12.5% success rate, and the team is middle-of-the-pack in puck possession. Being that he’s a physical center who can win faceoffs and chip in for 30-40 points a year, it would be unrealistic to think Laughton is the only thing Toronto needs to get their season back on track.
- Moving back to Toronto, the team could be without defenseman Chris Tanev for their upcoming matchup against the Sabres. After leaving their most recent game with an upper-body injury, TSN’s Mark Masters reported yesterday that Tanev remains questionable to return. Given that the Maple Leafs are financially limited in what they’re able to do, the expectation is that Philippe Myers will make his season debut if Tanev is unable to play on Friday.
McCue Commits To Bowling Green
- Maple Leafs prospect Sam McCue announced on his Instagram account earlier this week that he has committed to Bowling Green State University. The 20-year-old was a seventh-round pick by Toronto back in 2024 and is off to a strong start in his final season of major junior, putting up four goals and two assists in eight games with OHL Brampton.
Maple Leafs Debuting Easton Cowan In Top-Line Role
Earlier today, Mark Masters of TSN revealed Toronto’s lines at practice, and confirmed that Easton Cowan appears all set to make his NHL debut on the Leafs’ first line tomorrow versus the Red Wings.
The lights could not be much brighter for Toronto’s standout prospect, an Ontario native who grew up rooting for the team, to debut on Auston Matthews’ wing against Detroit tomorrow at home. Originally drafted 28th overall in 2023, Cowan quickly emerged as a standout with the London Knights, helping lead the marquee franchise to back-to-back OHL titles and a Memorial Cup. With Cowan up top, Matias Maccelli, an intriguing pickup from the Leafs during the offseason, will slot in with John Tavares and William Nylander, still a great spot for the talented playmaker as he finds his role in Toronto.
Although Cowan had a slight statistical regression in his final season with London (96 points to 69) while also appearing in 8 fewer games, the hometown youngster is Toronto’s undisputed top prospect with legitimate top-six potential. As is a challenge for any cap-constrained team vying to extend their contention window, the emergence of players such as Cowan is critical. It is especially the case for the Leafs, given their lack of high draft picks in previous years, along with Mitch Marner’s departure, and the trading away of fellow key prospect Fraser Minten last season. Toronto was able to strike gold with their 2021 second round choice, Matthew Knies, and they hope Cowan will follow the same blueprint, soon injecting more youth into the club.
At just 20, and having yet to play professional hockey at all, Cowan could end up back in the AHL at some point, but the Leafs have placed their prospect in an incredible opportunity to succeed right away. Many eyes will be on Cowan and how he rises to the occasion, filling in for for the currently injured Steven Lorentz. The awaited-debut will come tomorrow afternoon.
Steven Lorentz Out With Upper-Body Injury
- In a separate Eastern Conference matchup, this time in the Atlantic Division, the Toronto Maple Leafs lost forward Steven Lorentz to an upper-body injury. Lorentz’s departure from tonight’s game came early in the first period after being hit by Detroit Red Wings defenseman Ben Chiarot. He skated in 1:17 of tonight’s game, and the Maple Leafs added no further comments on the severity of his injury.
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