The Toronto Maple Leafs are still waiting on answers for a few important names, but Monday brought at least a little more clarity on who is trending where.
General manager John Chayka met with reporters and walked through the latest on John Tavares, Chris Tanev, Dakota Joshua and Max Domi, while also addressing whether Toronto might need outside help on the blue line.
Tanev was back on the ice Monday in a red no-contact jersey, but the return path remains fuzzy. Chayka said the defender is moving in the right direction.
"He'll get back to practice here shortly, hopefully," Chayka said on Monday. "Then he'll progress to return to play. All the diagnosis and everything we heard was really positive and optomistic."
There is still no firm timetable attached to Tanev.
"That would be like a crystal ball kind of thing. Our doctors are confident in the diagnosis and the treatment plan and he's responding well."
Chayka was also asked about the risk of Tanev aggravating the injury once he ramps up again.
"You're always worried about re-injury, but we'll get to a point where we feel really good about it. We'll test it as much as we can in practice and then it's about going out and playing."
Tavares, meanwhile, is skating on his own but has not reached the stage of joining the team in practice. Chayka said the next step is still ahead of him.
"He's a pretty unique athlete, very attuned to his body and what he needs to do. He's not yet at a point where he's skating with the team. That would be kind of the next step."
Tavares has two goals and seven points in seven games this season.
Joshua’s conditioning stint with the Toronto Marlies is over, and Chayka said Monday that he should be back with the big club in the next "day or two". As of Wednesday, no further update had been provided.
Domi is in a different spot entirely. Chayka said he is skating on his own and working through rehabilitation, but he is not ready for team activity. He remains out indefinitely following complications after offseason surgery.
"At the point that he's comfortable addressing it, he wants to address it himself, and we'll help him do that." Chayka said on Monday.
The injury chatter also reached social media after Kirill Marchenko was hurt in Monday’s game against the Calgary Flames. No official update has come from the Leafs, but a report on X claimed he told fans at the Calgary airport that he would be back in "two weeks".
🚨 A group of Leafs fans bumped into Kirill Marchenko at the Calgary airport today, where he told them he was “flying back home today” and will be back in “two weeks.”
As of now, no official confirmation has been made by the Leafs (should know more tomorrow)
📸: @Alwaysbardown1 … pic.twitter.com/SJ0ZgLY3V1
- Leafslatest (@Leafslatest) October 27, 2026
Toronto’s defensive depth has been under the microscope with Tanev and Tavares sidelined, and Chayka acknowledged that the group can improve. But he pushed back on the idea that a trade is the only path to fixing things.
"There's no doubt we need to improve our defensive play overall to reach our ultimate goals," Chayka said. "But I don't think a transaction is necessarily always the way to improve.
We've seen a lot of internal improvement already. And I think defensive play is a five-man structure unit, our decision-making, puck management, forwards tracking back, coaches implementing their systems and creating more comfort with that.
We've seen lots of progress organically with all of that.
"My job is always to look to improve the team if possible and we'll continue to evaluate the arket and see if there's an opportunity."
That brought the discussion to Ben Danford, one of the organization’s more highly regarded prospects.
"I love he's in the American league, won a championship there last year, which I think gives him a lot of good runway. He's with (Marlies assistant) Mark Giordano, who's a great developer. As we think about it more broadly as an organization, especially the defence, he's a prospect that could play 10 or 15 years for us."
When asked about Danford’s immediate future, Chayka kept the focus on the long view.
"For us, it's about the long term, making sure that if and when he does get called up he's ready and in position to help us win at the NHL level. Right now, he's doing a great job playing big minutes in all situations, developing and evolving in his game.
I got a chance to go see him play. He was really positive with his progress."
The takeaway from that answer is hard to miss: Toronto likes where Danford is headed, but a call-up does not sound imminent.
In Other News...
Maple Leafs Face A Tough Trade Question After Flames Loss
A loss to the surging Calgary Flames did more than dent the Maple Leafs momentum. It also kept a familiar front-office question hanging in the background, because Toronto has been monitoring the market for help down the middle and the name that keeps coming up carries some real fit appeal. Morgan Frost has the kind of profile teams talk themselves into this time of year, a versatile center with useful face-off ability and enough offensive upside to make him more than just a depth add.
For Toronto, the appeal is obvious, but so is the complication. The Leafs have built a certain rhythm through their current line combinations, and bringing in a player like Frost would not be a simple plug-and-play move. It would likely mean reworking the middle of the lineup and changing the deployment of established centers, which is exactly the sort of trade ripple that can make a good idea harder to execute. [Read more 🡒]
Maple Leafs Face A Costly Choice In Their Search For Blue-Line Help
The Maple Leafs search for help on the blue line has started to take shape around a familiar kind of trade-deadline dilemma: pay up now, or keep trying to patch the defense with what is already in house. Toronto has been linked to defensemen Nic Hague of the Nashville Predators and Simon Edvinsson of the Detroit Red Wings, with the conversation centered on whether the Leafs are willing to move draft picks or veteran talent to get a deal done.
Cost is the real issue here, along with the fit. Toronto is weighing not just the price of acquisition, but the contract implications and whether the kind of transaction needed to land a target would be straightforward or require more complicated maneuvering. For a club looking to shore up its back end, the question is not only who can help, but how much it will take to get him in a Leafs sweater. [Read more 🡒]
Chris Tanevs Return Could Give The Leafs A Needed Blue Line Lift
Chris Tanev was back at practice Tuesday in a red non-contact jersey, a small but meaningful step for a Maple Leafs blue line that has been looking for help. Toronto has been dealing with injuries on the back end, so seeing Tanev back on the ice offered at least a little relief and a sign that the teams defensive picture may be starting to clear up.
The next question is how quickly the Leafs can turn that progress into game action. Tanevs return would give Toronto a steadier presence on defense and could ease some of the urgency around adding outside help, but the club will still need to weigh the timing carefully as it moves through the final stages of his recovery. [Read more 🡒]