For the Toronto Maple Leafs, the cap picture is mostly in decent shape. That doesn’t mean the roster is free of headaches, though. A few contracts stand out as the ones that could get sticky by the time the 2026-27 NHL season rolls around.
Toronto has added a wave of new deals this offseason through free agency, trades and even Gavin McKenna’s entry-level contract, which he signed on the final day of development camp on July 3. With the salary cap continuing to rise, the Leafs aren’t staring at one crushing deal that sinks everything. But there are still contracts that can become difficult because of term, cap hit or the protections attached to them.
Dakota Joshua is one of those cases. The left wing has two years left on the four-year deal he originally signed with the Vancouver Canucks in June 2024.
Toronto took on his $3.25-million cap hit when he was acquired for a 2028 fourth-round draft pick last offseason. The problem is simple: Joshua hasn’t produced at the level that matches that number, and he’s already been pushed down the Leafs’ lineup.
Even with the cap climbing, paying more than $3 million for a fourth-liner only makes sense if that player brings a rare extra element, and that hasn’t been the story here.
Morgan Rielly is a different kind of challenge. His salary isn’t the real issue.
At $7.5 million, he’s still functioning like a defenseman who belongs in a team’s top four, even if he’s not quite hitting the standard he’s set in past years. He averaged the second-most minutes on the team in each of the last two seasons, finishing at 21:08 in 2025-26 and 21:23 in 2024-25.
He also put up 36 points in 78 games this past season. The complication comes if Toronto ever decides it wants to move on from him after 13 seasons.
He has four years left on his contract, which runs through age 36, and the protection is significant: a no-move clause for the rest of the deal, plus a modified 10-team no-trade clause in the final two years, according to PuckPedia.
Colton Sissons rounds out the list. The center joined Toronto in GM John Chayka’s free-agency haul on July 1 and signed a two-year deal worth $4.25 million per season.
That contract isn’t crippling, especially in today’s cap environment, but it does look a little rich for what he brings. Sissons has built his value on two-way play, penalty killing and work at the faceoff dot rather than offense.
Those are useful traits, no question. Still, he’s not a high-end scorer, and his cap hit sits only about $140,000 below John Tavares, a consistent 30-goal scorer, even with Tavares taking an obvious pay cut.
In Other News...
Maple Leafs Still Have 3 Free Agent Decisions To Make
The Maple Leafs have already done plenty of their offseason business, but there is still room for one more move or two if they want to keep shaping the roster around the edges. A few unsigned names remain in the conversation, including Eeli Tolvanen, Michael Bunting and Nick Blankenburg, each offering a different kind of fit depending on what Toronto values most at this stage of the summer.
Tolvanen brings the most upside as a possible top-six option, while Bunting would be the familiar face in the mix after spending his best years in Toronto and carving out a role as a middle-six winger. Blankenburg, meanwhile, would give the Leafs an affordable right-shot depth defenseman, which is the sort of low-risk addition that can still matter when the lineup tightens up later in the season. [Read more 🡒]
Leafs Just Made Quiet Changes Fans Have Been Waiting On
With the NHL arbitration calendar now wrapped up without a single hearing, the leagues attention has started to shift from contract drama to the quieter business of building for the season ahead. Around the league, notable deals have landed for players such as Jet Greaves, Jason Robertson, Jamie Drysdale, Connor McMichael, Trevor Zegras and Cole Perfetti, while Chicago and Utah also got key business done on the contract front.
For the Maple Leafs, the more relevant movement came on the organizational side, where the Marlies hockey operations and coaching staff received a fresh round of official changes. Chris Bourque was named assistant GM alongside Ryan Hardy, Jeremiah Crowe was brought in as Director of Player Personnel, and Denver Manderson and Greg Moore were added as assistant coaches for Steve Sullivan and Mark Giordano, a set of moves that signals the Leafs are continuing to shape the development pipeline behind the NHL roster. [Read more 🡒]
Leafs Defensive Logjam Could Force Another Painful Roster Decision
Torontos offseason work on the blue line has created more competition than certainty, with Emil Andrae and Darren Raddysh coming in and Troy Stecher back in the fold after Simon Benoit was moved out. It is the kind of reshuffling that can help a roster in the long run, but it also leaves the Maple Leafs with a crowded defense group and a few uncomfortable decisions still to come as training camp gets closer.
Philippe Myers sits at the center of that squeeze after a difficult season in which he never really established himself as a steady option. Toronto would like to keep opening space for younger defensemen such as William Villeneuve and Ben Danford, but the path to do that may require another move on the back end, whether on the trade market or through a more procedural route if no deal materializes. [Read more 🡒]