The Maple Leafs may already have a solution to one of their most familiar annual headaches, and it comes from inside the organization rather than from the trade market.
Ben Danford, a 20-year-old who was something of a surprise pick in 2024, is starting to look like the kind of steady young defender Toronto has spent years trying to find at the deadline. Several scouts had him ranked well below where the Maple Leafs selected him, but he turned heads during the Marlies’ Calder Cup run by looking calm and composed against older competition.
He didn’t flash, but he didn’t have to. For a young defenseman, that kind of poise can be the whole game.
If Danford keeps moving in that direction, Toronto’s leverage changes. Instead of entering February desperate for a shutdown blueliner and getting boxed into an overpriced rental, the Maple Leafs could already have that type of player in-house and on the cheap. That would let them avoid the usual deadline panic and choose their moments more carefully.
Edmonton, meanwhile, has a chance to lean into a familiar type of player with Michael Bunting. The idea has a neat symmetry to it: Bunting once stepped into the role Zach Hyman had filled in Toronto, and now he could follow Hyman to the Oilers.
The fit is easy to see. Edmonton has lost some of the edge and irritant factor that came from Perry, Kane, Desharnais, and Nurse, and Bunting brings exactly that kind of forechecking, net-front, muck-it-up style.
There’s also a telling detail in the mix: Bunting is reportedly training with McDavid and Hyman this summer. That doesn’t seal anything, but it’s a pretty loud signal.
Edmonton also has more than $4.7 million in cap space, and Bunting is coming off a contract year where a short-term “prove it” deal makes sense. He has already shown he can work alongside a star scorer after his run with Auston Matthews in Toronto, so this wouldn’t be a random depth flier.
It would be another move toward the gritty, forecheck-first identity that has helped carry the Oilers through their last two playoff runs.
Ottawa’s potential swing is the most boom-or-bust of the bunch, and it centers on Patrik Laine. His career has gone from 140-goal scorer early on to a player who barely saw the ice last season, when he spent most of the year on injured reserve in Montreal and managed only five games and one assist. Even so, he remains unsigned in late August, which suggests the market has gone cold.
That’s the kind of opening a team like the Senators could exploit. Ottawa already looks like a solid, well-rounded group, and the missing ingredient is more finishing punch.
If Laine could get back even to the 20-goal pace he hit in his last full season, that would carry real value. The financial piece matters too: a bonus-heavy, near-minimum contract would be a huge drop from the $8.7 million he once made.
It’s the definition of a low-risk gamble, and if it hits, it could be the sort of quiet move that ends up mattering when the playoffs arrive.
In Other News...
Maple Leafs Suddenly Have A Fascinating Erik Karlsson Path
Erik Karlsson is back in the Toronto conversation, and this time it comes with a little more smoke than usual. Elliotte Friedman reported that one of his sources sees a real possibility of Karlsson landing with the Maple Leafs, with the idea tied to how both Toronto and Pittsburgh perform as the season unfolds. Karlsson is in the final season of his contract with the Penguins, and Toronto has shown interest before, which keeps the door from fully closing even if the fit has always been complicated.
The key variable is his no-move clause, but there is a scenario where that becomes less of a barrier if Pittsburgh is not in the thick of things. Torontos own roster situation also matters, since changes there could create the kind of opening that makes a swing for a star defenseman more realistic. For now, it is just a path, not a promise, but it is the sort of path that tends to linger around a team like the Leafs until the trade deadline starts to sharpen every rumor. [Read more 🡒]
Leafs Fans Finally Have A Bright Prospect Story To Watch
The Marlies Calder Cup run gave Maple Leafs fans something they have been waiting to see from the organizations development pipeline: a prospect group that looked ready to matter. Torontos AHL club brought home its second championship in franchise history, and the title came with meaningful contributions from a cluster of young players whose names should be familiar to anyone tracking the future down on the farm. Artur Akhtyamov stood out enough to earn playoff MVP honors, while Ben Danford, Miroslav Holinka, Luke Haymes and Noah Chadwick all had stretches that hinted at bigger roles ahead.
For a Leafs fan base that has spent plenty of time looking for signs of depth help, the appeal goes beyond the trophy. The Marlies success offered a useful snapshot of how the next wave is progressing, and it also put a spotlight on which prospects may be closest to pushing for real NHL relevance. The upcoming season should tell us more about how quickly that group can translate a strong AHL spring into something more lasting in Toronto. [Read more 🡒]
Maple Leafs May Have Finally Eased The Burden On Their Stars
Auston Matthews and William Nylander are heading into the season with a noticeably different kind of help around them, and it starts with the way John Chayka spent the offseason. As the Maple Leafs new general manager, he spent the summer reshaping the depth chart with a clear goal in mind: add defensively sound role players who can take on tougher, quieter minutes and make life a little easier for the top-end scorers.
Toronto brought in Colton Sissons, Teddy Blueger, Brandon Duhaime, Jack Roslovic and Nick Paul as part of that push, giving the lineup more support behind the headline names. The real question now is whether that kind of balance lets Matthews and Nylander keep producing at the level the Leafs need, or even find another gear, with fewer demands on them to carry so much of the burden themselves. [Read more 🡒]