The Toronto Maple Leafs keep running into the same problem: too much of the offense is landing on Auston Matthews and William Nylander.
That has been the thread through the 2026-27 season, and it has shown up again early. The club is leaning heavily on its best scorers while waiting for the rest of the lineup to catch up. If that doesn’t happen soon, the Leafs could be staring at the same ending they had in 2025-26, when they missed the playoffs.
Through nine games, Matthews has 13 points and Nylander has 12. Kirill Marchenko has added nine in nine games, giving Toronto three players at a point-per-game pace or better.
But the workload tells another story. Matthews is averaging 21:44 a night, Nylander 20:37, and Marchenko 18:44.
The next forward is down at 16:47, a gap that points to head coach Jim Hiller leaning too hard on his top talent.
The scoring behind them just isn’t enough. Easton Cowan and John Tavares each have seven points, Jack Roslovic has six, and Gavin McKenna has five. That’s not close to enough support for the top of the lineup, especially when the top two scorers have nearly twice as many points as the team’s sixth-leading scorer.
The shot volume has not solved the issue, either. Even in the Leafs’ 4-1 loss to the New York Islanders on Oct. 17, they managed 29 shots, but the looks were coming from the outside. The offense has lacked the kind of depth that can force opponents to defend all four lines.
Right now, the plan looks simple: let the top line do the heavy lifting and hope the rest of the roster fills in around them. When that doesn’t happen, Toronto gets shut down. The bigger issue is that the team does not seem to pivot when that approach stalls.
That has raised questions about how Hiller is handling his bench. There were already concerns after the McKenna fiasco a few games ago, and now the focus has shifted to the way Matthews, Nylander, and at times Marchenko are being used. Double- and triple-shifting those players may keep the offense afloat in the moment, but it also risks draining them by the end of games.
The minutes reflect the imbalance. Teddy Bluger is at 12:05 per game, Brandon Duhaime at 11:12, and McKenna at 14:23 despite being viewed as the key piece before the season as the first overall pick. He can still be that player, but the current usage isn’t helping him much.
For now, the Leafs are not getting true four-line contributions. Most of the burden is falling on Matthews, Nylander, Marchenko, and stretches of the second line.
Toronto enters Monday night against the San Jose Sharks trying to stop a three-game skid and improve on a 3-4-2 start. The Sharks are 4-3-1 and riding a two-game point streak after a shootout loss to the Detroit Red Wings. They’ve been solid through eight games, and Macklin Celebrini has been a big part of that with 11 points in six games this season.
The Leafs need a win, but they also need a different kind of support from the rest of their roster. The question now is whether they can break the slide before it gets any worse.
In Other News...
Leafs Fans Have A New Draft What-If To Debate
The 2026 draft already gave Maple Leafs fans plenty to chew on when Toronto went first overall with Gavin McKenna, a selection that immediately shaped the way the class will be remembered in this market. San Jose followed by taking Ivar Stenberg second, and with both players off to promising starts, the contrast has only made the Leafs decision feel bigger in hindsight than it did on draft night.
Stenberg has been turning heads with the Sharks, which naturally invites the sort of alternate-history debate Toronto fans never seem to tire of. The part that keeps the conversation alive is how he now views his own draft process with the Leafs, a detail that adds another layer to the what-if scenario without changing the fact that Toronto still landed the player it clearly wanted at the top of the board. [Read more 🡒]
Red Wings Suddenly Face More Urgency In Dylan Larkin Situation
The Maple Leafs continue to search for ways to shore up the blue line, but one name appears to be staying off the table: Easton Cowan. Toronto is reportedly reluctant to include the promising prospect in any major deal for defensive help, a sign the organization still sees him as a key piece of its future even as it explores upgrades around the roster.
There is also some immediate uncertainty up front, with William Nylander missing the morning skate because of an illness and now listed as a game-time decision for the matchup with San Jose. Around the league, the trade market is beginning to stir again, with Montreal exploring a possible Rickard Rakell deal and Pittsburgh open to moving veteran players, developments that could add urgency for Detroit as it weighs what comes next with captain Dylan Larkin. [Read more 🡒]
Leafs Blue Line Problem Just Became Harder To Solve
The Maple Leafs have been hunting for help on the blue line, but the search is running into a familiar NHL problem: the kind of defenseman they need is hard to find and even harder to pry loose. With an aging defensive core and a clear need to steady things long term, Toronto has been weighing whether the answer has to come through the trade market or whether the fix will come more gradually through the development pipeline.
Darren Dregers latest read on the situation only sharpens the challenge for the Leafs, who are trying to identify a real difference-maker rather than just another body for the back end. If the market does not offer that kind of player right now, Toronto may have to lean more heavily on younger defenders and the draft to rebuild the group over time, which leaves the front office with a much less immediate path to solving one of its biggest roster questions. [Read more 🡒]