With training camp getting closer, the Maple Leafs’ most interesting forward stories aren’t necessarily about the headliners. Right now, the real intrigue sits a little lower on the depth chart, where one player is heading out and another is arriving with a chance to climb.
Alex Nylander looks to be leaving the Toronto organization after a strong season with the Marlies. Reports say the 28-year-old forward is expected to attend Calgary Flames training camp on a professional tryout. That move comes after Nylander put up 24 goals and 53 points in 65 regular-season games for the Marlies, then added seven points in 24 playoff games as the team won the Calder Cup.
That kind of production would normally earn a longer look, but Toronto never found a consistent NHL role for him. That’s the key piece here.
Nylander did his job in the AHL and helped a championship team, yet the Maple Leafs still couldn’t carve out a regular spot for him at the top level. Calgary is now the team offering him another shot to prove he belongs in the NHL.
There’s also the family angle, which makes the move feel even more final. If Alex ends up in Calgary, it likely closes the book on the Nylander brothers being tied to Toronto. William remains one of the Leafs’ stars, while Alex is now trying to chart his own path back to the league.
Jack Roslovic, though, arrives in a very different situation. Toronto signed the 29-year-old to a two-year, $8-million contract after he scored 21 goals and 36 points in 69 games with the Edmonton Oilers last season.
On paper, that looks like a solid middle-six addition. But there’s a real chance he becomes more than that.
Roslovic has reached the 20-goal mark three times, and his career high sits at 45 points. Put him with better offensive talent and give him a larger role, and there’s at least a case that he can push beyond that. One possibility worth watching is time next to Auston Matthews.
The two share a connection from their days with the U.S. National Team Development Program.
That doesn’t guarantee anything, of course, but it does give Toronto something to work with. Familiarity can matter, especially when a team is trying to sort out chemistry in a reshaped forward group.
The Leafs don’t need Roslovic to turn into a franchise scorer. They need speed, secondary offense and flexibility. If he clicks with Matthews, then a $4-million-a-year signing starts to look like a lot more than a depth move.
Put those two stories together and you get a pretty clear picture of where Toronto stands. One player had a productive year and still couldn’t find an NHL home.
Another is stepping into a chance to make himself more valuable than expected. That’s the business of building a roster.
Some players leave because there isn’t room. Others arrive hoping to force the issue.
And that’s what makes the Leafs’ forward group worth following once camp opens: there are openings, but not many certainties. Roslovic has a path to move up.
Younger players will be pushing veterans. Toronto still has to sort out which names actually improve the team.
In Other News...
Leafs Keep Emerging In One Intriguing Big-Season Addition Scenario
Elliotte Friedmans latest look at the leagues future had a little something for everyone, but for Maple Leafs fans, the most intriguing thread was the one that put Erik Karlsson back into the conversation. Any talk of a veteran right-shot defenseman with elite puck-moving ability is going to catch attention in Toronto, especially with the club always searching for ways to sharpen its blue line and keep pace in the East. The broader backdrop matters, too, with Friedman floating the idea of NHL expansion in markets like Atlanta and Texas before the next U.S. TV deal expires, a reminder that the leagues next few years could bring more change than most offseasons do.
There is also the inevitable business-side chatter around the top of the league office, with Friedman suggesting Gary Bettman could eventually shift into an advisory role while Bill Daly steps in. But for the Leafs, the immediate draw is still the possibility of Karlsson landing in Toronto if the right conditions line up, a scenario that keeps resurfacing because it would reshape how the team thinks about its roster construction. Elsewhere on the hockey broadcast and transaction front, there were updates involving Ron Macleans possible return to Rogers Saturday night coverage, plus emergency backup goalie news and professional tryout agreements for Cal Petersen and Alex Nylander, a reminder that the NHL calendar never stays quiet for long. [Read more 🡒]
Leafs Are Watching A Familiar Experiment Slip To Another Team
Alex Nylander is headed for another chance to crack an NHL roster, with reports saying he is expected to sign a professional tryout with the Calgary Flames. For Toronto fans, it is a familiar kind of development: a player who made an impression with the Marlies last season, put together a strong year in the AHL, and still never turned that into a permanent spot with the Maple Leafs.
Now the Flames will get the look Toronto never fully granted him at the top level. Nylander will be evaluated through training camp and the preseason as Calgary tries to determine whether his game fits its NHL mix, leaving the Leafs to watch a once-familiar internal test play out somewhere else, with a different staff deciding whether there is finally a path forward. [Read more 🡒]
Maple Leafs Made Their Summer Bet And Fans Know The Risk
The Maple Leafs spent the summer trying to reshape the roster without blowing it up, a subtle shift from the kind of headline-grabbing move fans have come to expect. Signing Sergei Bobrovsky and landing Darren Raddysh in a sign-and-trade with the Tampa Bay Lightning gave the front office some extra mobility and depth on the blue line, while the team also explored several trade avenues for bigger names before stopping short of a blockbuster deal.
It left Toronto with a lineup that looks sturdier in a lot of places, but not necessarily more explosive in the way some supporters might have hoped. The thinking was clear enough: reduce the weak spots, improve the back end, and trust the overall structure. The lingering question is whether that approach can hold up if the scoring balance doesnt come together the way the Leafs need it to. [Read more 🡒]