The Maple Leafs head into 2026-27 with plenty of moving parts after missing the playoffs and landing the first overall pick in the NHL Draft. A new front office, a new head coach and a wave of fresh faces have changed the picture in Toronto, but the biggest pressure points also sit with a handful of returning players who need this season to go right.
These aren’t the names driving the entire team. They’re the ones whose year could tilt their careers in very different directions depending on how things unfold.
Morgan Rielly stands at the top of that list. He’s been a regular subject of trade chatter, and under Craig Berube, he struggled.
Now he gets a clean slate under Jim Hiller, and that alone makes this season feel loaded for him. A strong campaign could calm the trade noise and show he can still be useful in a reduced offensive role on a blue line now built around Darren Raddysh.
If things go poorly, Toronto could be left with an expensive veteran whose role shrinks, whose trade value drops and whose long-term fit becomes even harder to sort out.
That kind of swing is exactly why Rielly has the most to gain or lose of any Leaf entering the season. A bad year would do more than dent his standing. It could cut into his role for good, fuel even more speculation, make his contract tougher to move and reshape how fans view his time in Toronto.
Anthony Stolarz is right behind him. With the arrival of Sergei Bobrovsky, he has a chance to show he can still be trusted even if his workload changes. If he stays steady, he can rebuild the starter-level reputation he earned in 2024-25 and prove Toronto has more than just a traditional backup.
Easton Cowan is in a different spot, but the stakes are still real. Last season, he bounced around the lineup and finished his final weeks back in the AHL.
This year is about proving he belongs as a full-time NHL player rather than just a promising forward. The Leafs want him to grow into a dependable middle-six piece who can also handle shifts with Auston Matthews and William Nylander.
Artur Akhtyamov rounds out the group, and while most of his time will still be spent in the AHL, the opportunity is clear. The Leafs’ goaltending pipeline has thinned, and this season gives him a chance to show he can be Toronto’s next internal option. If he takes that step, he could position himself as the goalie the organization can trust for the next decade.
Among the four, Akhtyamov is still developing, which is why he lands fourth on the list. Cowan comes third because his NHL experience gives him more at stake than Akhtyamov.
Stolarz sits second because he has a chance to prove he’s the real deal. But nobody enters 2026-27 with a wider gap between best-case and worst-case than Morgan Rielly.
In Other News...
Maple Leafs May Have Found A Prospect They Desperately Need
Tinus-Luc Koblar is starting to look like the kind of prospect the Maple Leafs have been hoping to uncover, and his first season with Leksands IF in the Swedish Hockey League is giving Toronto a useful early read on his game. At 19, he is already facing older professional competition, and that kind of assignment tends to tell you plenty about whether a player is simply filling a developmental slot or actually pushing forward faster than expected. For a late second-round pick, that kind of growth curve is especially encouraging.
What makes Koblar stand out inside the Leafs' prospect pool is the mix itself. Toronto does not have many young players who combine size and skill in one package, which is part of why the organization is keeping close tabs on him this season. He is still early in the process, of course, but the fact that he is producing while adapting to the pace and physical demands of pro hockey has put him on a more interesting track than most players his draft slot usually follow. [Read more 🡒]
Maple Leafs Just Made A Bet Fans Will Instantly Compare To Makar
The Maple Leafs have added a big piece to their blue line picture, signing defenseman Darren Raddysh to an eight-year deal with an $8.5 million annual cap hit. It is the kind of contract that immediately invites comparison across the league, especially with Colorado locking up Cale Makar on an eight-year extension at a far higher number, even if the two players sit in very different places on the rsum spectrum.
For Toronto, the bet is less about matching superstar value and more about betting early on a defender who just delivered a breakout season and could grow into the role the contract demands. The cap implications matter here, because long-term deals at this level shape how a team can build around them, and the Leafs are clearly making a roster-construction choice that says as much about belief in Raddyshs trajectory as it does about the price of defense in todays NHL. [Read more 🡒]
Maple Leafs May Be More Dangerous Up Front And From The Blue Line
NHL EDGE data is pointing to a Maple Leafs group that could look a little more dangerous in different ways this season, with the offense not just coming from the usual places up front. The numbers suggest Toronto may get more punch from the blue line, where Darren Raddysh has shown a knack for high-velocity shot attempts, while forwards such as Matthew Knies, Jack Roslovic and William Nylander bring the kind of traits that can tilt a game even before the puck drops on opening night.
What makes it interesting for Toronto is how those skill sets could feed the power play and make the team harder to defend across a full night, especially if the forward group builds on what it showed a year ago. The question now is how all of that translates once training camp begins, because the ingredients for more scoring are there, but the exact shape of the attack still has to sort itself out. [Read more 🡒]