Saskatoon Blades general manager Colin Priestner isn’t hiding his irritation with the Toronto Maple Leafs after what he says was a change of course on 2026 third-round pick Zac Olsen.
Speaking during the Blades’ training camp, Priestner said Toronto had told Saskatoon that Olsen would be headed back to the WHL, only for that plan to shift after changes inside the organization.
“With Olsen… he's not here. We wish he was here.
We spent a lot of time talking to him over the three or four months leading into his decision. Toronto told us he was coming back, and Toronto fired some of their staff and their new staff came in, and the plan changed.
That's life in our league.”
Instead of returning to the Blades, Olsen has committed to Colorado College for the 2026-27 season and will take the NCAA route. The Maple Leafs’ new emphasis on U.S. scouting and NCAA development lines up with that direction, especially after John Chayka overhauled the organization this summer by clearing out several longtime staff members and bringing in new people with more analytical backgrounds and niche roles, including U.S. scouting expertise.
Olsen, 18, put up 34 points in 57 games with Saskatoon in 2025-26 and has 57 points in 118 games over three seasons with the club. He’s described as a fast, physical forward who uses his speed to create separation and generate more odd-man rushes.
Priestner clearly isn’t pleased with the move, but Toronto ultimately controls where Olsen develops as part of its organization.
And Olsen may not be the only Blades player Toronto steers in a different direction. Cooper Williams, a fifth-round pick by the Maple Leafs, is another development situation worth watching.
Williams, 18, scored 57 points in 66 games and added six points in 11 postseason games in 2025-26. Across 134 games with Saskatoon, he has 44 goals and 114 points, including back-to-back 57-point seasons in 2024-25 and 2025-26.
For now, Priestner’s annoyance is obvious, but Toronto appears to believe it sees a bigger challenge - and a bigger payoff - in Olsen’s next step.
In Other News...
Maple Leafs Just Got A Reality Check On Top-Six Trade Cost
The trade market for young top-six forwards just got a little more expensive, and the Maple Leafs are now staring at the kind of benchmark that tends to shape deadline and offseason conversations alike. New Jerseys acquisition of Luke Evangelista from Nashville, in exchange for conditional 2028 first- and second-round picks, gives Toronto a fresh point of reference as it weighs how aggressive it wants to be in addressing its own scoring needs.
For the Leafs, the bigger question is no longer whether help would be useful, but how much future value they are willing to spend to get it now. Toronto has to balance the temptation to add immediate offense against the longer-term benefit of keeping draft capital intact, and a deal like this makes that tradeoff a lot harder to ignore. [Read more 🡒]
Maple Leafs Face A Toronto Problem That Can Hurt Team Chemistry
Life around the Maple Leafs comes with a different kind of grind than most NHL markets, and it starts well beyond the rink. The pressure from fans and media is constant, and for players trying to settle into Toronto, the city itself can make even simple routines feel like a chore. Jake Carlo pointed to the traffic and sheer size of the place as a real obstacle, noting how hard it can be for teammates to spend time together away from hockey.
That matters because chemistry is rarely built only in the locker room. When players are spread across a sprawling city and fighting the daily commute, those extra chances to bond can disappear fast, which is why the Maple Leafs may need to be more intentional about creating team time during the season. Organized group activities would not solve every issue, but in a market this demanding, anything that helps the group feel connected could carry real value once the games tighten up. [Read more 🡒]
Maple Leafs May Regret Passing On A Low-Cost Scoring Fix
With training camp approaching, the Maple Leafs are still trying to sort out a roster that can provide enough depth scoring without pushing the salary cap into a corner. That has made the margins in free agency feel even thinner, especially for a team looking for inexpensive ways to add offense without sacrificing flexibility later on.
One name that passed by Toronto was Eeli Tolvanen, who settled on a one-year deal with the Rangers. He is the kind of low-cost swing the Leafs could use more often, and the same goes for veterans such as Gustav Nyquist and Jonathan Drouin, both of whom fit the profile of players willing to take show-me deals. For a club searching for answers beyond its top scorers, those shorter-term bets might be the kind of move that looks obvious only after the fact. [Read more 🡒]