Joel Quenneville isn’t buying the idea that the Maple Leafs are stuck in the mess of last season.
The Anaheim Ducks coach gave Toronto’s retooled roster a strong endorsement heading into 2026-27, pointing to the changes in both personnel and leadership as the kind of reset that can change a team’s direction fast. The Leafs have turned the page with new faces across the organization, including GM John Chayka, after a disastrous season that left them at the bottom of the Atlantic Division and out of the playoffs.
Toronto also landed Gavin McKenna with the first overall pick, giving the fan base a fresh reason to believe the comeback starts now. On the Toronto Rush podcast, Quenneville said:
"[11:55] They [the Leafs] certainly did change a little bit- not a little bit, maybe a lot of it- about not just what’s going on on the ice, but their whole staff and management. Think they brought in some nice pieces. You know, you got the defenseman that shoots a bomb from the top," said Quenneville.
He kept going, and his point was clear: the Leafs have the kind of talent mix that can make a quick jump if everything clicks.
"That’s going to be adding to a nice mix on a power play that has high-end top forwards. They’ve got some experience. They certainly have an appetite to show everybody that, hey, that was just one of those years, and getting back on track is something that they could easily be at the top of the [Atlantic] division with what they have.”
While Toronto is trying to build toward a better year, Auston Matthews is back on the ice for the first time since knee surgery in March.
The Maple Leafs captain skated Tuesday at the inaugural Sun Devil Hockey Pro Camp in Arizona, joining a group of other NHL players. It was his first time back since the injury that ended his season.
Matthews had been sidelined after a Grade 3 MCL tear and quadriceps contusion in a regular-season game against the Anaheim Ducks. The damage came on a knee-on-knee collision with defenseman Radko Gudas, and it kept him out the rest of the year.
In Other News...
Maple Leafs May Have Found A Defense Fit They Rarely Get Cheap
The Maple Leafs added another piece to their blue line pipeline in the 2026 NHL Draft, taking right-shot defenseman Mans Gudmundsson with the 76th overall pick. For a team that has long searched for affordable, homegrown help on defense, the selection checked a few boxes at once: size, puck-moving ability and a physical edge that can be hard to find once the price tag starts climbing.
Gudmundsson is not just a flyer on a later pick, either. Toronto appears to see him as part of a longer-term succession plan for its defense corps, with room for him to keep developing in North America. Whether he becomes the kind of steady, cost-controlled fit the organization is hoping for will depend on how quickly he adapts, but the Leafs clearly think there is more there than a depth add. [Read more 🡒]
Leafs Still Have One Unsettled Goalie Question Before Camp
The Maple Leafs head into camp with their goaltending chart already taking shape around Anthony Stolarz and Sergei Bobrovsky, but it is not hard to see why the room still feels unfinished. Stolarz brings injury concerns into the conversation, while Bobrovskys age makes depth behind them more than a luxury, especially for a team that knows how quickly a crease plan can get complicated over a long season.
One possible answer is a familiar kind of training-camp insurance, with Toronto weighing a veteran option who has NHL experience and just spent time in the KHL. It would not change the outlook at the top of the depth chart, but it would give the Leafs another layer of protection if the kind of goalie trouble that tends to arrive unexpectedly starts to show up again. [Read more 🡒]
John Tavares Maple Leafs Signing Is Back In The Spotlight
John Tavares was back in the spotlight in a very different setting this week, appearing in Tax Court of Canada to challenge a Canada Revenue Agency demand tied to the signing bonus he received when he joined the Maple Leafs in 2018. The dispute centers on how that money should be treated for tax purposes, with the CRA arguing it belonged in the same bucket as regular salary while Tavares and his lawyer say his residency status at the time changes the calculation.
For Toronto, the case is another reminder of how much attention followed the captains arrival and how long the aftershocks from that decision can linger. The court has not ruled yet, leaving one more off-ice storyline hanging over a player whose move to the Maple Leafs already reshaped the franchise and still draws scrutiny years later. [Read more 🡒]