John Chayka wasted no time putting his stamp on the Toronto Maple Leafs, and now the attention shifts from the blue line to the forward group. After landing Darren Raddysh in a sign-and-trade nine days before free agency even opened, Toronto has about $25 million to spend and enough flexibility to create more room if needed.
The challenge is obvious: fill out the roster without getting trapped by long-term money. With that in mind, four forwards stand out as names the Leafs should have on the board when free agency opens.
Eeli Tolvanen fits the kind of profile Toronto could use. The 5’10 right winger was once viewed as a major prospect, but his path took a strange turn when the Nashville Predators put him on waivers during the 2022-23 season.
Seattle claimed him, and he quickly settled in as a dependable middle-six piece, producing at roughly a half-point per game while holding up well defensively. He’s 28 now and probably looks more like a career middle-sixer than a breakout star, but the ingredients are still there: strong skating, above-average speed and a shot that can beat goalies.
For a Leafs team that could use more pace on the wing and more right-handed forwards, Tolvanen makes sense if the contract stays reasonable. He could easily deliver multiple 20-goal, 40-point seasons in Toronto’s middle six.
Michael Bunting is the familiar face on this list. Leafs fans know exactly what he brought from 2021-23, when he became a fixture in the top six and made a real impact alongside Matthews and Marner.
His 23 goals and 63 points in 2021-22 helped establish his value, but he eventually priced himself out of Toronto and left for Carolina after the 2022-23 season. Since then, he has bounced around the league, spending four years with four different teams after signing a $ 4.5 M x 4 deal.
His production has generally hovered around the half-point-per-game mark, with one strong exception: 55 points in 71 games in 2023-24. A return to Toronto would not be shocking if the price is right, especially if the Leafs want a winger who can complement Matthews and McKenna and help balance out the middle six.
The idea here is simple: get Bunting back into a role where he can be a 55-65-point winger, the same kind of fit he was four years ago.
Oliver Bjorkstrand is another right winger who checks a lot of boxes for Toronto. He has long been the kind of player who looks tailor-made for a team like the Leafs, and his track record backs that up.
Before his move to Tampa at the 2024-25 trade deadline, he was a consistent 20-goal, 55-point winger with strong underlying numbers. His stint with the Lightning did not go as planned.
He was used mostly in a bottom-six role, managed just 12 goals and 30 points in 80 games, and then suffered a severe leg injury that kept him out for six months just as he was starting to adjust to Jon Cooper’s system. Even with that setback, Bjorkstrand still looks like a player who can rebound.
At 31, he remains a buy-low candidate, and Toronto could use that down year to their advantage. If he gets back to his previous level, he could be one of the better value pickups in the 2026 free-agent class.
Mats Zuccarello brings a different kind of appeal. The Wild reportedly had a messy breakup with him, with Minnesota refusing to pay him what he deserves because of Kaprizov’s massive $17M x 8 extension.
That leaves Zuccarello heading to free agency even though he wanted to stay. Age is the obvious question - he turns 39 in September - but the production has not fallen off nearly as much as you’d expect.
This past season he posted 15 goals and 54 points in 59 games, a near-point-per-game pace at age 38. His game has aged well because his hockey sense, vision and playmaking still drive the offense.
He may regress a bit in October, but he still profiles as a player who could give Toronto around 65 points and fit next to Matthews. A one-year deal at a high AAV would not crush the Leafs, and on that kind of short-term contract, Zuccarello would be a low-risk, high-reward addition.
Toronto has the money to do real damage in free agency, but that does not mean it should spend just to spend. Around the league, contracts keep climbing, and the Leafs cannot afford to hand out deals that become dead weight almost immediately.
The article already points to Bobrovsky as a likely expensive signing, which is far from ideal, though not a disaster on its own. The bigger issue is avoiding another contract in that same mold if the goal is to contend next season.
If it were up to the author, the roster after today would look like this:
Bunting-Matthews-Nylander
Knies-Tavares-Bjorkstrand
Cowan-(empty)-Robertson
Lorentz-Sissons-Joshua
Mccabe-Raddysh
Rielly-Tanev
Andrae-Ekman Larsson
Bobrovsky
Stolarz
There are still holes there, but the skeleton is in place. The Leafs have a foundation to build on, and the difference between another letdown and a real playoff push could come down to whether Chayka can find the right bargains in free agency.
In Other News...
Canadiens Suddenly In Direct Fight With Leafs For Coveted Free Agent
As NHL free agency opened, Toronto found itself in an interesting spot with a player who fits the kind of addition front offices tend to chase this time of year: a proven winger who can slide into a reliable role without needing the spotlight. Chris Johnston of The Athletic projects the deal could land around four years at roughly $5.67 million per season, a price tag that signals this is more than a short-term depth play.
What makes the situation especially notable for the Maple Leafs is the company they are keeping in the pursuit. Montreal is in the mix too, turning what might have been a straightforward market into a direct battle with a division rival for a veteran forward expected to stay in a middle-six role. For Toronto, it is the sort of free-agent competition that can shape the middle of the roster before the summer really gets moving. [Read more 🡒]
Leafs Fans Just Got A Sudden Twist In The Werenski Chase
Zach Werenskis name has been hanging around the rumor mill long enough to get Maple Leafs fans thinking about a possible blue-line upgrade, and the latest twist at least explains why the chatter spiked. Reports say Werenski, his agent Judd Moldaver and Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell spoke recently to calm things down and clear the air after all the trade speculation, a sign that Columbus wanted to address the noise before it turned into something bigger.
For Toronto, the appeal is obvious whenever a top defenseman becomes part of the conversation, especially one with the kind of contractual leverage Werenski has. But the more immediate takeaway is that any idea of a quick move now looks a lot less straightforward than it did a few days ago, which leaves the Leafs watching from the sidelines and waiting to see whether this is merely a pause in the discussion or the end of it. [Read more 🡒]