- It was a difficult night for the Toronto Maple Leafs yesterday as they lost 5-2 to their arch rivals, the Montreal Canadiens, and now sit second-to-last in the Eastern Conference, one point above the Buffalo Sabres, who have a game in hand. Making last night’s game worse was the fact that veteran defenseman Jake McCabe left the game due to an upper-body injury, according to a team announcement. While we await an update revealing the extent of McCabe’s injury, it’s clear any extended absence for McCabe would be a major loss for Toronto. The team is already dealing with an injury to veteran Chris Tanev, and losing McCabe for any duration of time would mean the Maple Leafs would lose one of their most relied-upon defensemen. McCabe ranks second on the team among defensemen in time-on-ice per game, and leads Toronto defensemen in shorthanded time-on-ice per game.
Maple Leafs Rumors
Matthews And Knies Doubtful For Tonight
While the Maple Leafs had both Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies available at practice yesterday, it appears they’ll be without both of them for at least one more game. Head coach Craig Berube told reporters including TSN’s Mark Masters (Twitter link) that both forwards are considered as doubtful for tonight against Montreal. Matthews has missed the last week and a half with a lower-body injury while Knies hasn’t played since last weekend due to a lower-body injury of his own. Both players are key cogs in Toronto’s top-five attack (in terms of goals scored) with Matthews being tied for second on the team in goals while Knies sits third in points but they’ll have to wait another game at least before returning.
Latest On Anthony Stolarz
Toronto Maple Leafs starting netminder Anthony Stolarz has been out with an upper-body injury for a little over a week, and at the moment it’s unclear at what point he’ll be fit to return to the ice. Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube told the media today, including the Toronto Sun’s Terry Koshan, that Stolarz’s injury was “worse than we thought” and that at this point he does not have a timeline for Stolarz’s return to the ice.
While Berube did go on to add that “maybe tomorrow” Stolarz will be back on the ice, it doesn’t sound as though anything related to his recovery is set in stone. The Maple Leafs could certainly use a healthy Stolarz back on the ice and playing at his best. The team currently sits 27th in the NHL with a 9-9-2 record and averages the second-highest goals-against per game. Stolarz has an .884 save percentage in 13 games this season, but performed much better last year with a .926 save percentage in 34 games.
Maple Leafs Activate Scott Laughton, Place Nicolas Roy On IR
The Maple Leafs have activated Scott Laughton from injured reserve ahead of tonight’s game against the Blue Jackets, David Alter of The Hockey News reports. The team placed center Nicolas Roy on IR in a corresponding move to open up a roster spot.
Laughton, 31, returns from his second injury absence of the season. He hasn’t played since Nov. 8, when he sustained an upper-body injury against the Bruins in just his second game back in the lineup after a lower-body injury he suffered during the preseason had him out of the lineup for nearly a month to begin the campaign. In 17:10 of total ice time against Boston and Utah three days prior, Laughton recorded a -2 rating, two shot attempts, and seven hits while going 9-for-14 on faceoffs (64.3%).
As Toronto contends with a long list of injuries, it’ll be looking to a 13-year veteran in Laughton to help stabilize its bottom-six forward group. According to TSN’s Mark Masters, Laughton will center the Leafs’ third line in his return between Steven Lorentz and rookie Easton Cowan. That trio was paired together throughout the preseason, and until Laughton sustained his injury late in camp, most thought it would start the year as Toronto’s fourth line. They’ll be getting their first look during the regular season tonight after Max Domi took Cowan’s spot on the right wing during his previous brief stint in the lineup, as Cowan was assigned to AHL Toronto to make room for Laughton rejoining the active roster last time around.
Laughton, a Toronto-area native, is in his first full season in the blue and white after being picked up at last season’s trade deadline from the Flyers, who’d drafted him No. 20 overall back in 2012. While brought in primarily as a two-way conscience for the bottom six, Laughton had routinely been a 30-to-40-point producer over the last several years in Philadelphia. That hasn’t been the case in Toronto, where the 6’1″ pivot has just two goals and four assists for six points in 35 combined regular-season and playoff games since his acquisition. With Roy, Matthew Knies, and Auston Matthews all unavailable, they need more offense out of him to help revitalize an offense that’s been limited to three goals or fewer in four straight.
Roy’s IR placement is retroactive to his last appearance on Nov. 15, so he’s only been ruled out of tonight’s game and will be eligible to return Saturday against the Canadiens. The 6’4″ center sat out Tuesday’s win over the Blues with an upper-body injury after logging a season-high 19:45 of ice time against Chicago three days prior. Acquired from the Golden Knights in the Mitch Marner sign-and-trade over the summer, Roy has struggled to produce in a third-line role and has just one goal and four points through his first 19 appearances as a Leaf.
Can The Maple Leafs Turn Things Around?
The Maple Leafs have faced a tough start to the season, hovering around the .500 mark while adopting a high-risk style of hockey. After 20 games, they’re 9-9-2 and have only six wins in regulation, placing them seventh in the Atlantic Division. Toronto’s offense has been among the league’s best at 3.50 goals per game, managing to outscore its issues at times, but its defense has been nearly nonexistent and ranks at the bottom of the league. The Maple Leafs are going through a bit of an identity crisis as we reach the quarter mark of the season, and with injuries starting to pile up, it’s understandable to wonder if they can turn things around.
Several lingering issues remain for the Maple Leafs, some new and others dating back to last season and beyond. Toronto’s defense has struggled to start this season, after finishing eighth in the league in goals against last year. However, the blame can’t be placed solely on their defensive efforts, as this isn’t a new problem; it’s been around since last season, though masked by elite goaltending. Toronto’s shot and goal metrics have been trending downward for a while now, and this could be a case of the Maple Leafs regressing back towards the mean.
Speaking of goaltending, Toronto’s netminders have struggled this year after being a strength last season, thanks to the excellent play of Anthony Stolarz and Joseph Woll. This season, Stolarz has had a tough start, posting a 3.51 GAA and a .884 SV%. As for Woll, he just returned against the Blackhawks this past Saturday. The Maple Leafs’ defensive issues could be addressed mainly with even average NHL goaltending. Still, it’s challenging to imagine Toronto getting the same level of goaltending as last season, which might continue to expose defensive vulnerabilities.
The Maple Leafs have spent many games this season trading high-quality chances with their opponents. While this approach works when their goaltending is elite, it becomes less effective when their netminder is below replacement level. The game on Nov. 15 against Chicago is a prime example, as Woll returned to the lineup and stopped 29 of 32 shots, four of which were of the high-danger variety. Playing loosely worked for a while against the Blackhawks, as the Maple Leafs held a 19-9 edge in high-danger chances, but they surrendered the lead in the third period for the second time in a week, ending up on the wrong side of a 3-2 score. There were positives to take from the game, including dominance in high-danger chances at five-on-five as Toronto had 16 to Chicago’s six, per Natural Stat Trick.
Defensive lapses are not the only issue facing this team right now, as injuries to key players have accumulated, forcing many of Toronto’s depth players to perform beyond their usual roles. Having Max Domi as a second-line center is not ideal and clearly contributes to Toronto’s recent decline. Domi is a good passer and has solid offensive skills, but he is not a top-nine center, let alone a second liner. Ideally, Domi would play on the wing on the third line, but injuries are testing the Maple Leafs’ depth, and someone has to move up when players go down.
Defensively, the loss of Brandon Carlo and Chris Tanev has pushed Philippe Myers into the lineup. No disrespect to the 28-year-old, but he is not a top-six NHLer, as recent performances – including the game against Chicago – have shown. Myers wasn’t signed to be a top-six Maple Leafs defender, but circumstances are what they are, and sometimes depth players need to step up when injuries mount. The recent waiver claim of Troy Stecher will likely send Myers back to the press box as a healthy scratch, but it’s hardly fair to expect Stecher to be the solution either. The Maple Leafs need to get healthy on defense (and at forward and in net) if they want any chance of making the playoffs, which leads us to a thought on the minds of Maple Leafs fans everywhere.
On the same night the Maple Leafs lost to the Blackhawks, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reported that the Maple Leafs are looking for roster-for-roster trades. It makes sense for Toronto to explore this, especially since they don’t have a first-round pick until 2028 and lack significant prospect capital unless they consider trading Easton Cowan, which they aren’t considering. The Maple Leafs reportedly tried to acquire defenseman Rasmus Andersson last season from the Calgary Flames, as well as forward Brayden Schenn from the St. Louis Blues. TSN’s Darren Dreger doesn’t see a fit for Toronto and Andersson, given how little trade capital the Maple Leafs have, and the Flames might not want to do business with their former general manager.
General manager Brad Treliving has a few players they can consider trading, such as Max Domi, Nicholas Robertson, or even Carlo, but who and what he chooses to move will depend on what he sees as a need. It’s fair to say the Maple Leafs need a defenseman, but they could also benefit from an impact forward to slot into their top six. Toronto didn’t adequately replace Mitch Marner, and although their offense is rolling, they still have a gap on their top two lines. They don’t need to acquire a player of Marner’s caliber, but they certainly need a reliable performer who can push some of Toronto’s depth players down the lineup to their proper spots.
Right now, things don’t look good for Toronto this season, and the team clearly lacks confidence, as shown by their on-ice behavior whenever they give up a goal. There aren’t many signs that the team is about to turn things around, but there are reasons to stay hopeful. If Toronto can get healthy, that will give them a boost. With Woll back and Stolarz not far from returning, their goaltending should improve soon. If they can make one or two small trades for immediate help, that should help the depth players find their proper roles, making the team stronger overall. None of this is sure to happen, and Toronto could keep slipping, but the season isn’t over yet—even if it doesn’t look promising.
Maple Leafs’ Matthew Knies Out Day-To-Day
The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced that top winger Matthew Knies will miss Tuesday night’s match against the St. Louis Blues with a day-to-day, lower-body injury. He joins a laundry list of injuries in Toronto that also includes Auston Matthews, Brandon Carlo, Chris Tanev, and Anthony Stolarz.
Interestingly, Knies’ injury will bring Toronto up to $36MM in cap sapce on the injury list, nearly 40 percent of their total cap, per James Mirtle of The Athletic.
Knies, Toronto’s star winger, will join the club’s top center and starting goaltender on the sideline. He has been heavily leaned on over the course of the year, averaging over 20 minutes of ice time through 19 games so far. Knies has rewarded that deployment with a career-year early on. He has five goals and 22 points on the year, enough to rank third on the team in scoring behind William Nylander (26) and John Tavares (24).
Knies was well-due for the strong start. He has assumed the role of Matthews’ handcuff after century-scorer Mitch Marner moved to the Vegas Golden Knights this summer. Knies posted 58 points, split evenly, in 78 games from a second-line role last season. That performance was itself a step up from his standout rookie year, when he scored 15 goals and 35 points in 80 games.
Tavares and Nylander will take over the top line with Matthews and Knies on the shelf. Next to them will again be shoot-first winger Nicholas Robertson, while Matias Maccelli will return to a top-six role behind him. Robertson, Maccelli, and rookie Easton Cowan will be the beneficiaries of Knies’ ice time for the duration of his absence.
Latest On Matthews, Tanev, Roy
- Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving confirmed today, per The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta, that team captain and franchise center Auston Matthews won’t play today or on Thursday due to the injury he suffered Nov. 11 against the Boston Bruins. Matthews did begin skating again today, but still needs some time before he’s ready to return to game action. The 28-year-old has scored 14 points in 17 games this season, and had 33 goals, 78 points in 67 games in 2024-25. In addition to speaking on Matthews, Treliving also said that veteran defenseman Chris Tanev’s health status will be re-evaluated in a week or two, and head coach Craig Berube confirmed that center Nicolas Roy will miss a few games with an injury of his own. Tanev suffered his injury Nov. 1 while Roy, who has four points in 19 games this season, played in the team’s last game on Saturday.
Maple Leafs Place Brandon Carlo On IR, Recall Jacob Quillan
The Maple Leafs announced they’ve placed defenseman Brandon Carlo on injured reserve, retroactive to Nov. 13. His roster spot has gone to forward Jacob Quillan, who’s been recalled from AHL Toronto.
The Leafs only have $359,833 remaining in their long-term injured reserve pool, per PuckPedia. That isn’t enough space to add Quillan’s $875,000 cap hit to the roster. They’ve presumably shifted one of their IR-bound players to LTIR to create the required flexibility. That’s likely Chris Tanev, who’s been out the longest of the group and has already missed 16 out of the 24 days and seven out of the 10 games required for an LTIR placement. If so, he’ll be eligible for activation on Nov. 26 against the Blue Jackets.
With Carlo now designated for IR as well, neither of the Leafs’ top two right-shot options is on the active roster. The 28-year-old missed Saturday’s loss to the Blackhawks with a lower-body injury. It’s not clear when he sustained it. He didn’t miss a shift in his previous appearances, an overtime loss to the Kings last Thursday. His IR placement rules him out of tomorrow’s game against the Blues, but he can be reinstated ahead of Thursday’s contest against the Blue Jackets.
Carlo, 29 later this month, has had an underwhelming start to his first full season in the blue and white. Acquired at last season’s trade deadline from the Bruins to serve as a stay-at-home complement to Morgan Rielly, his possession numbers have cratered despite softer even-strength minutes than what he was used to in Boston. In 166 minutes together this season, Carlo and Rielly are allowing a team-worst 3.11 expected goals against per 60 minutes at 5-on-5, per MoneyPuck.
The 6’5″, 227-lb righty’s lack of physicality has also been apparent. He’s routinely logged over 100 hits per season over his 10-year NHL career, but has just 12 of them through 18 games this year.
Philippe Myers took Carlo’s place alongside Reilly on Saturday night in Chicago, but he cratered the Leafs in his 5-on-5 minutes with an xG% of 5.39 and a CF% of 26.32%. It wouldn’t be surprising to see head coach Craig Berube do some line shuffling and scratch Myers against St. Louis in order to give Troy Stecher his Leafs debut after being claimed off waivers from the Oilers over the weekend.
Quillan, 23, gives Toronto another option at forward as Scott Laughton and Auston Matthews remain on IR. The undrafted center out of Quinnipiac is in his second professional season and earns the recall amid a hot start in the AHL, rattling off two goals and 12 assists for a point per game through 14 appearances. He made his NHL debut last season, although it was short-lived: he skated just 5:21 in a loss to the Senators in January before leaving the game as a result of a knee-on-knee collision with Nick Cousins. The winner of the ECAC’s Best Defensive Forward award in 2023-24 had 18 goals and 37 points in 67 AHL appearances last year.
Maple Leafs Attempted To Acquire Rasmus Andersson, Brayden Schenn Last Season
The Toronto Maple Leafs appear to already have a pulse on the asking price for two of the trade market’s top names. General manager Brad Treliving made a push to acquire Calgary Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson, and St. Louis Blues captain Brayden Schenn, through points of the 2024-25 season per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on the latest 32 Thoughts podcast.
Toronto couldn’t put together a deal that enticed Calgary enough to move Andersson, while the asking price for Schenn ended up richer than Toronto’s other moves. Friedman added that he didn’t believe Schenn, who has a modified-no-trade clause, would accept a trade to Toronto unless they also acquired brother Luke Schenn.
Instead of the top names, the Maple Leafs landed defender Brandon Carlo and center Scott Laughton at the Trade Deadline. The moves cost the Maple Leafs two first-round picks and two top prospects, with Fraser Minten headed to the Boston Bruins and Nikita Grebenkin headed to the Philadelphia Flyers.
The thought of paying even more for a pair of veterans was surely a reasonable deterrent, but it cost the Leafs a good bit of offensive oomph. Schenn finished last season with 50 points, marking the third season in the last four years that he’s crossed the half-century mark. He also led the Blues with a career-high 194 hits, and posted a stout 52.3 faceoff percentage. His scoring has taken a massive hit on a struggling Blues squad this season – but Schenn is still on pace for 25 points and 173 hits, serviceable numbers from a 34-year-old.
Instead, Toronto landed Laughton, who has four points, 56 hits, and a 55.4 faceoff percentage in 22 games with the Maple Leafs. Health has proved a limitation for the 31-year-old. He is currently on injured reserve with a lower-body injury, and carries a day-to-day designation. He’ll bring responsible two-way play back to the team’s bottom-six when he returns – though lacks the offense to help turn the tides. Laughton’s career-high came in 2022-23, when he scored 43 points in 78 games with Philadelphia.
While Schenn and Laughton – former teammates – bring similar gritty styles, the difference between Andersson and Carlo is staggering. Andersson has been a linchpin in the Flames’ offense, routinely stepping up as the main driver of play from the blue-line. He scored 11 goals, tying a career-high, and 31 points in 81 games last season. Those marks were backed by a team-leading 196 blocked shots, and 36 hits. He continues to do much of the same this year, with seven points and 33 blocks in 20 games so far.
That’s far from the staunch, defensive style that Carlo brings to the table. The 29-year-old has five points, all assists, and 72 blocked shots across 38 games with Toronto. He’s been a welcome addition to head coach Craig Berube’s hard-nosed, old-school style – and even intermittent earned top-pair minutes. But in a struggling Leafs offense, Carlo’s setback style has failed to create any sparks from the blue-line.
Toronto appeared to find a balance between value and costs with their deadline acquisitions – but it’s not clear how that will affect their presence in this year’s trade market. Both Andersson and Schenn remain available, and Toronto remains in need. But they could struggle to offer much more than they did last year, especially without a first-round pick until 2028.
With that standing in mind, Friedman emphasized that Toronto should remain patient, and wait for a true difference-maker to hit the market. The Trade Deadline is a little under four months away and the list of high-profile names on the block should only grow as teams sense their fates.
Maple Leafs Claim Troy Stecher Off Waivers From Oilers
The Maple Leafs have turned to the waiver wire to add some depth on the back end. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link) that they have claimed blueliner Troy Stecher off waivers from Edmonton. To free up a roster spot, the team announced (Twitter link) that goaltender Anthony Stolarz has been placed on injured reserve retroactive to November 11th.
The 31-year-old is in his third season with the Oilers after being acquired from Arizona back in 2024. After playing somewhat of a regular role last season when he made 66 appearances, playing time has been much harder to come by in 2025-26. This season, Stecher has only played in six games and has been held off the scoresheet while adding three blocked shots in just under 14 minutes per night of playing time.
In his 10-year NHL career, Stecher has played in 566 games with six different teams and hasn’t been with a franchise for more than four seasons. He has 22 goals and 95 assists to his credit along with 629 blocked shots with a 17:25 ATOI.
Knowing that a cap crunch was coming with Zach Hyman nearing a return (he was officially activated earlier today and will make his season debut tonight), Edmonton had been looking to move Stecher in recent weeks. Clearly, no move came to fruition which resulted in yesterday’s waiver placement. With Stecher coming off the roster, the Oilers now have $212.5K remaining in their LTIR pool, per PuckPedia.
Toronto is currently without blueliner Chris Tanev who is out with an upper-body injury sustained in his first game after returning from a concussion. His injury has resulted in Dakota Mermis serving as the reserve defenseman in recent weeks. It’s possible that Stecher is being eyed as an upgrade for that spot although he could push Philippe Myers for playing time as well.
Stecher is in the final season of a two-year, $1.55MM contract which carries a $787.5K cap charge, making him a low-cost pickup for the Maple Leafs. He’s slated to become an unrestricted free agent in July.
As for Stolarz, he left Tuesday’s game against Boston due to an upper-body injury. Initially listed as out day-to-day, he’ll now miss at least a week past the 11th, ruling him out of Toronto’s next two games. He’s someone who could probably benefit from the rest as the 31-year-old has struggled mightily out of the gate, posting a 3.51 GAA and a .884 SV% in his first 13 appearances. Joseph Woll was recently recalled from his conditioning stint with the AHL’s Marlies and will be in uniform tonight against Chicago with Dennis Hildeby being their other active option.