The Toronto Maple Leafs may be willing to move a premium piece to help their blue line, but Easton Cowan does not sound like he’s going anywhere.
That was the message from Elliotte Friedman on the latest edition of the 32 Thoughts Podcast, where he said Toronto views Cowan as someone who has taken a major step forward in a short amount of time and is now being treated like a real part of the team’s future. With the Leafs already having included Matthew Knies in the deal for Kirill Marchenko, the question becomes what else they’d be willing to put on the table. For now, Cowan seems to be off limits, and Toronto may instead be looking at other prospects or the 2027 first-round pick it received from Colorado.
There is also uncertainty around William Nylander heading into Toronto’s game against the San Jose Sharks. Nylander missed the morning skate because of an illness, and head coach Jim Hiller said he would be a game-time decision. Auston Matthews sounded upbeat when asked about him, smiling and saying, “I think he’s going to be great.”
The morning skate gave a few clues about how Toronto was lining things up if Nylander can’t go. Bo Groulx skated with Matthews and Jack Roslovic, while Cowan was with Nick Paul and Kirill Marchenko.
Gavin McKenna, Colton Sissons and Vinni Lettieri made up another line, and Brandon Duhaime, Teddy Blueger and Zack MacEwen were the final forward group. Sergei Bobrovsky was also in line to start in goal again for the Maple Leafs.
Elsewhere, the Detroit Red Wings may be feeling a growing sense of urgency around Dylan Larkin. Friedman suggested the club could be reevaluating how long it wants to let the situation go, and he specifically raised the concern of how long Detroit is willing to risk Larkin getting hurt. He also pointed to the recent Connor Hellebuyck situation as something that may have added to the pressure, even if the connection between the two situations isn’t entirely clear.
And in the background of all this, the Montreal Canadiens may have taken a look at another familiar name while working on their pursuit of Kirill Marchenko. Friedman reported that some of his sources believed Rickard Rakell was among the players Montreal explored as part of a possible deal involving Columbus. It’s still unclear whether the Canadiens made a formal offer or how close Rakell came to being moved, but his name being in the mix suggests they were considering multiple ways to structure a deal that might get Columbus’s attention.
That also fits with what Friedman said Saturday on Headlines: the Penguins are open to moving older veterans in exchange for younger assets. Rakell would be near the top of that list for GM Kyle Dubas if Pittsburgh decides to shop more widely.
In Other News...
Leafs Fans Have A New Draft What-If To Debate
The 2026 draft already gave Maple Leafs fans plenty to chew on when Toronto went first overall with Gavin McKenna, a selection that immediately shaped the way the class will be remembered in this market. San Jose followed by taking Ivar Stenberg second, and with both players off to promising starts, the contrast has only made the Leafs decision feel bigger in hindsight than it did on draft night.
Stenberg has been turning heads with the Sharks, which naturally invites the sort of alternate-history debate Toronto fans never seem to tire of. The part that keeps the conversation alive is how he now views his own draft process with the Leafs, a detail that adds another layer to the what-if scenario without changing the fact that Toronto still landed the player it clearly wanted at the top of the board. [Read more 🡒]
Leafs Blue Line Problem Just Became Harder To Solve
The Maple Leafs have been hunting for help on the blue line, but the search is running into a familiar NHL problem: the kind of defenseman they need is hard to find and even harder to pry loose. With an aging defensive core and a clear need to steady things long term, Toronto has been weighing whether the answer has to come through the trade market or whether the fix will come more gradually through the development pipeline.
Darren Dregers latest read on the situation only sharpens the challenge for the Leafs, who are trying to identify a real difference-maker rather than just another body for the back end. If the market does not offer that kind of player right now, Toronto may have to lean more heavily on younger defenders and the draft to rebuild the group over time, which leaves the front office with a much less immediate path to solving one of its biggest roster questions. [Read more 🡒]
Maple Leafs Suddenly Face A Tavares Problem They Can't Ignore
John Tavares latest injury is the kind of setback the Maple Leafs cant simply paper over. He left the game against the Buffalo Sabres after a collision with Josh Norris and is expected to be out week-to-week with a lower-body issue, forcing Toronto to reshuffle its middle six at a time when the club was already leaning on its top-end talent to carry a heavy load.
Nick Paul has already been pushed into the No. 2 center role behind Auston Matthews, and that puts even more pressure on a lineup that now has to find offense from elsewhere. For the Leafs, the bigger concern is not just surviving a stretch without Tavares, but figuring out how much more they can ask of younger players before the lack of depth starts showing up on the scoreboard. [Read more 🡒]