The Maple Leafs’ 2026 preseason slate gives fans an early look at a team that looks a lot different after a rough 2025-26 season and a major organizational reset.
Toronto is coming off a 32-36-14 finish and a franchise-record 30-point drop from the year before, a collapse that pushed the club out of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and forced a rework of the roster. General Manager John Chayka responded by reshaping the lineup around more depth, better defensive balance and experienced goaltending, moving away from the previous star-heavy build.
That new direction is already visible in the arrivals of first overall pick Gavin McKenna and veteran goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky.
The Maple Leafs will play four preseason games before the regular season begins, with two split-squad matchups against Montreal and a pair of games against Ottawa.
Toronto opens against the Canadiens on Saturday, September 19, with one group visiting Bell Centre and another hosting Montreal at Scotiabank Arena. The preseason continues on Wednesday, September 23, when the Maple Leafs face the Senators at Canadian Tire Centre and also welcome Ottawa to Scotiabank Arena.
The split-squad games against Montreal should give Toronto an immediate chance to test new combinations, while coaches sort through prospects, veterans and new additions in game action before final roster decisions are made. The Ottawa games add another useful benchmark against a familiar divisional opponent.
Tickets for the 2026 preseason go on sale July 23. Game times, broadcast details and training camp information will be announced later.
For Toronto, the preseason is about more than wins and losses. The bigger job is showing cleaner puck management, stronger defensive structure and better special teams after last season’s problems in all three areas. Bobrovsky’s presence, McKenna’s arrival and the added depth should create real competition throughout the roster.
Preseason results don’t guarantee anything once the games count, but they can reveal whether a new system is starting to stick. For the Maple Leafs, this is the first chance to show that the rebuild has produced a more complete team.
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