The Toronto Maple Leafs are sending a 26-player group to the 2026 NHL Prospect Challenge in Gatineau, Quebec, and the biggest draw is impossible to miss: Gavin McKenna is about to wear a Leafs jersey in game action for the first time.
McKenna, the first-overall pick, is one of five players from Toronto’s 2026 draft class on the roster. The others are Alexander Bilecki, Brody Pepoy, Patriks Plumins, and Cooper Williams. In all, the Leafs’ group is built around 15 forwards, eight defensemen, and three goaltenders.
Toronto will get two chances in Gatineau, opening against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday evening and then meeting the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday afternoon.
The roster also includes four selections from the 2025 draft: Rylan Fellinger, Tyler Hopkins, Tinus Luc Koblar, and Harry Nansi. From the 2024 class, Ben Danford, Miroslav Holinka, and Timofei Obvintsev are in the mix, while 2023 sixth-rounder Noah Chadwick rounds out that portion of the prospect pipeline.
There are also seven players signed to NHL contracts on the list: Vinny Borgesi, Brandon Buhr, Luke Haymes, Hayes Hundley, Landon Sim, Blake Smith, and Borya Valis. Borgesi was identified as a Keith Pelley favourite. Two AHL-contracted players, Sawyer Boulton and Ryan Kirwan, are also included.
The free-agent invitees are Sebastian Charvat, Matyáš Man, Parker Vaughan and Nic Whitehead. Man, a 20-year-old left defenseman from Prince Albert, and Vaughan, an 18-year-old right wing from North Bay, both took part in Leafs development camp earlier this summer.
Among the names worth watching, Koblar stands out. Toronto’s 2025 second-round pick turned heads at the 2026 World Championship, scoring six goals and 10 points while helping Norway reach its first-ever semifinal. The appeal is easy to see: size, skill and skating down the middle.
Koblar also signed his entry-level contract in June and told Swedish outlet HockeySverige that he believes he has a chance to play in the NHL this season, adding that the Leafs believed so too, while noting he needed a big summer to help his case. With preseason limited, the prospect tournament gives him an early stage to show how real that possibility might be.
That urgency runs through this September more than usual. Because the Leafs have only split-squad games against Montreal and Ottawa in a shortened preseason, each prospect has at most two chances to face NHL competition before the regular season begins. For McKenna, Koblar, Danford, Haymes and others with even a faint path to NHL minutes right away or later in the year, Gatineau offers a chance to get ahead before training camp really ramps up.
New Toronto Marlies head coach Steve Sullivan will guide the Leafs’ prospect team with help from the Marlies staff: Mark Giordano, Denver Manderson, Greg Moore, Hannu Toivonen and Nick Biamonte.
The prospects will practice at Ford Performance Center on Friday, September 11, before heading to Gatineau.
In Other News...
Maple Leafs Could Make Bottom Six A Lot More Interesting
The Maple Leafs already made one family connection this summer when they landed defenseman Darren Raddysh from Tampa Bay in a sign-and-trade, and now there is at least a little buzz around whether they might try to bring his brother Taylor into the picture as well. Taylor Raddysh is with the Rangers, but roster constraints in New York could leave him available, which naturally gets a team like Toronto thinking about how another depth piece might fit.
For the Leafs, the appeal goes beyond the novelty of reuniting brothers. A move for Taylor would be about giving the bottom six another layer of competition and a little more versatility, something that can matter a lot over the course of a season. Whether Toronto actually gets involved remains to be seen, but it is the kind of low-risk, high-interest idea that tends to linger when a team has already shown it is willing to connect the Raddysh family to the roster. [Read more 🡒]
Mitch Marner Just Weighed In On Torontos Bold Darren Raddysh Bet
Torontos wager on Darren Raddysh says plenty about how far the organization is willing to go after a breakthrough season. Fresh off a 70-point breakout, he landed an eight-year, $68 million contract, the kind of commitment that instantly changes expectations around a player and the team around him. For the Maple Leafs, it is a bold bet on production, growth and the idea that what Raddysh showed last year is only the start.
Mitch Marner, now with the Vegas Golden Knights, also took notice of the move and made clear he has been impressed by Raddyshs work ethic. His public praise adds another layer to a signing already carrying plenty of weight, especially because the Leafs are banking on that effort translating into lasting impact. The contract is in place, the spotlight is on, and the bigger question is how quickly Raddysh can turn that promise into something the Leafs can build around. [Read more 🡒]
Max Domi Just Gave The Maple Leafs A Real Camp Problem
The Maple Leafs opened camp with a familiar kind of uncertainty around Max Domi, and this one carries more weight than a routine preseason absence. General manager John Chayka said the forward will not be ready when camp begins and will remain out indefinitely after complications from an offseason surgery, leaving Toronto without one of the veteran pieces it expected to have available from day one. The club has not said what procedure Domi had, and the lack of detail only adds to the sense that this is more than a short-term hiccup.
Domi is expected to speak publicly about the injury at a later date, but for now the Leafs are left to sort out a roster picture that was supposed to be clearer by September. His absence matters because he is under contract for two more seasons, and Toronto had been counting on him as part of its forward mix entering the year. For a team trying to get organized early, the bigger issue is not just who fills in right away, but how long it will be until one of its more established forwards is actually able to join the lineup. [Read more 🡒]