The Maple Leafs are heading into 2026-27 with a lot to prove, and the easiest way for Toronto to change the mood around the team is for a few key players to rediscover what made them dangerous in the first place. Auston Matthews, Morgan Rielly, and Sergei Bobrovsky all have that kind of rebound path in front of them.
Last season was a rough one in Toronto. After finishing first in the Atlantic Division and second in the Eastern Conference in 2024-25, the Maple Leafs fell hard the next year.
Mitch Marner was gone, the front office changed, and Craig Berube was out as head coach. That left the organization searching for an identity.
Now John Chayka is reshaping the roster and Jim Hiller is behind the bench, and Toronto at least looks like a team trying to become something different. That alone doesn’t guarantee anything. But it does open the door for players who either underperformed or were boxed in by the way things were being run.
Matthews is the obvious place to start. If the Maple Leafs are going to get back into the conversation, it begins with him.
He remains one of the NHL’s elite goal scorers, but last season didn’t have the usual Matthews feel to it. Injuries, system changes, or the burden of carrying too much responsibility all seemed to chip away at the version fans are used to seeing.
The coaching change could help. Under Berube, Toronto leaned hard into structure and defensive responsibility.
Those things matter, but Matthews is at his best when he can take over in the offensive zone and make defenders react to him. If Hiller gives the top players more pace and more freedom, Matthews could easily push his production back up.
A healthy run to the 50-goal range would not be out of place.
Rielly is in a similar spot, just from the blue line. He’s always been most effective when he can jump into the attack, help drive transition, and create offence from the back end. When he’s asked to play it safer, some of what makes him dangerous gets muted.
That’s why this season feels like a real opening for him. Chayka’s offseason work points toward a Maple Leafs team that wants more puck movement and more offensive support from its defence.
If that’s the direction, Rielly should benefit more than most. He doesn’t need to turn into a Norris Trophy candidate again for this to count as a bounce-back year.
If he gets back to driving play, helping on the power play, and producing closer to his better offensive seasons, Toronto’s defence suddenly looks a lot more threatening.
Then there’s Bobrovsky, which is the boldest call of the three. His numbers from last season were rough: a .877 save percentage and a 3.07 goals-against average. Those aren’t the marks of a goalie carrying a team.
Anthony Stolarz may open the year as the safer choice, and Toronto will probably use both goalies. But Bobrovsky has made a career out of answering doubts. He’s had stretches where his game dipped before finding it again when it mattered most.
If Hiller’s system tightens things up defensively, Bobrovsky won’t need to be brilliant every night. He just has to be steady enough to keep Toronto in games. And if he catches fire later in the season, the goaltending conversation can flip fast.
That’s the bigger idea here. This isn’t just about three players turning in better seasons. It’s about the Maple Leafs looking less like a team trying to patch over what was lost and more like one moving in a new direction.
If Matthews gets his scoring touch back, if Rielly becomes a real force in transition again, and if Bobrovsky steadies the crease, Toronto won’t just be better than it was a year ago. It will feel like a different team altogether.
In Other News...
Morgan Rielly Trade Twist Just Changed The Leafs Conversation
Morgan Riellys name has quietly become part of a broader Maple Leafs conversation after reports surfaced that his trade preferences were not as geographically limited as first believed. Toronto had been operating under the idea that his list pointed only to Western Conference destinations, but the latest chatter has opened the door to a much different kind of discussion, one that reaches beyond the usual framework of a veteran defensemans movement.
Philadelphia has now been mentioned as a possible Eastern Conference fit, adding another layer to a situation that is still very much unsettled. Rielly also holds full trade protection for the next two seasons, so nothing can move without his say, and Toronto has not confirmed any expanded list of options. For now, it remains a rumor-driven story with no deal in hand, but it is the kind of wrinkle that can change how the Leafs are viewed around the league. [Read more 🡒]
Leafs Missed Out On A Forward They May Not Have Fit
Vitali Pinchuks move out of the KHL had him on the radar for a few NHL teams, including the Maple Leafs, but the fit in Toronto always looked tricky. The Leafs have already added multiple forwards this offseason, and with the roster and cap picture tightening, the kind of opening Pinchuk would need was never going to be easy to find.
Nashville ended up being the landing spot, but even there the path has gotten crowded fast. Recent offseason additions have pushed Pinchuk further down the depth chart and left his roster spot in question, which only underscores the bigger issue for Toronto: this is the sort of player the Leafs could have considered, but not necessarily the sort they had room to keep. [Read more 🡒]
Two Returning Marlies Are Running Out Of Time To Matter
The Marlies have brought back a pair of depth pieces who spent much of last season in the ECHL, giving the organization a couple of familiar names to sort through as camp and roster decisions loom. One is coming off a productive offensive run in Cincinnati, while the other handled the bulk of the work in net there, and both now get another shot to show they can be more than short-term insurance for Torontos AHL club.
For players in that spot, the margin for error is thin. They need to prove they can help the Marlies right away and, just as important, make themselves useful enough to stay on the radar for future NHL opportunities. The challenge is not just earning a place in the lineup, but doing it quickly enough to matter before the roster picture tightens. [Read more 🡒]