Maple Leafs 2026 Preseason Schedule: Canadiens and Senators Split-Squads, Tickets On Sale Now

The Maple Leafs preseason schedule is set — and it's all Atlantic rivals

The Toronto Maple Leafs preseason schedule for 2026 is out, and the exhibition slate is a tidy, familiar one: a run of games against the Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators, built around a pair of split-squad dates, with tickets going on sale July 23. It is a short, provincial warm-up before an 84-game marathon, and for a roster that John Chayka spent all summer reshaping, those exhibition nights carry more weight than the box scores will suggest.

The headline dates are September 19 against Montreal and September 23 against Ottawa, both run as split-squads — meaning Toronto ices two rosters on the same night, one at home and one on the road. For fans, it is a chance to see twice as many prospects and new faces in a single evening. For Jim Hiller's staff, it is the first live look at whether the summer's blueprint actually holds together on the ice.

The dates and the format

The split-squad format is the defining feature of this Maple Leafs preseason schedule. On September 19, Toronto meets Montreal in a home-and-away doubleheader — one group at the Bell Centre, another at Scotiabank Arena on the same night. On September 23, the Leafs do it again against Ottawa, splitting between the Canadian Tire Centre and Scotiabank Arena. The result is a compact exhibition slate against two of Toronto's closest geographic and divisional rivals.

Tickets for the home preseason games went on sale July 23. Exhibition prices are typically a fraction of regular-season costs, and split-squad nights are the best value on the calendar for fans who want to watch the organization's prospects before the roster tightens up. If you have been meaning to get eyes on the kids in the system, this is the window.

Why these exhibition games matter more than usual

Preseason hockey is often dismissed as meaningless, and in a normal year that is close to true. This is not a normal year for Toronto. Chayka tore up the bottom of the roster, remade the goaltending, and left a handful of genuine jobs open heading into camp. The preseason is where those jobs get decided, and the split-squad format hands the coaching staff double the sample size to sort it out.

We laid out the specific competitions to watch in our preview of the Maple Leafs training camp roster battles, and nearly all of them will play out in these exhibition games. Who wins the last bottom-six forward spot? Which young defenceman forces his way into the conversation? How does the reshaped depth chart actually look when the lines are on the ice instead of on paper? Exhibition games are where those answers start to form.

Gavin McKenna and Easton Cowan headline the auditions

The single biggest reason to tune in is the pair of young forwards Toronto is trying to fast-track. Gavin McKenna, the first-overall pick, and Easton Cowan, fresh off a Calder Cup run with the Marlies, are both pushing for top-six roles, and the preseason is their formal audition. We made the case that McKenna belongs on the top power-play unit from day one, and that Cowan has earned a real top-six audition rather than a sheltered introduction.

The split-squad dates are perfect for this. Hiller can load one roster with veterans and slot McKenna into a featured spot on the other, giving the 18-year-old real minutes against NHL competition without burying him behind the established core. How he handles a hostile Bell Centre crowd or a physical Ottawa lineup will tell the staff plenty about whether he is ready for opening night.

Bobrovsky's Maple Leafs debut and the goaltending picture

The other must-watch storyline is in the crease. Sergei Bobrovsky signed with Toronto on July 1, and the preseason will offer the first look at the two-time Vezina winner in a Maple Leafs sweater. We covered the terms of his arrival when he signed his three-year deal to reset the crease, and broke down how the tandem might work in our look at the Bobrovsky-Stolarz partnership.

Exhibition minutes are low-stakes for a 37-year-old veteran who has nothing left to prove, but they matter for timing and chemistry with a new set of defencemen in front of him. Expect Bobrovsky to get a controlled workload — enough to shake off the rust, not so much that Toronto risks its most important offseason signing in a September tune-up.

The bottom-six battle nobody is talking about

While McKenna and Cowan grab the headlines, the quieter and arguably more consequential competition is at the bottom of the forward group. Chayka spent his summer adding bite and depth — the kind of checking-line pieces that decide whether a team survives the physical toll of an 84-game schedule — and several of those players will be fighting for the final roster spots in these exhibition games.

Split-squad nights are ideal for sorting this out, because they force depth players into meaningful minutes rather than mop-up duty. A fourth-line hopeful who might get eight minutes in a normal exhibition game can log 15 on a split-squad roster, giving Hiller a real read on penalty-kill reliability, forechecking motor and faceoff work. Those are exactly the traits that separate a 13th forward from a healthy scratch, and they are hard to evaluate in practice. The preseason is where the depth chart's fine print gets written.

The stakes are higher than usual because the margins on this roster are thin. Every bottom-six spot that goes to a reliable, cap-friendly depth forward is a spot that keeps flexibility open for an in-season move. How Hiller sorts the back end of his forward group in September will quietly shape what Chayka can do at the deadline.

How the preseason feeds into the regular-season opener

The exhibition slate flows directly into a regular-season schedule that starts at home. Toronto opens 2026-27 with a four-game homestand against Montreal, the New York Islanders, Ottawa and Nashville before a western swing through Vegas, Colorado and Utah. We broke down the full slate — including Bobrovsky's return to Florida later in the season — in our coverage of the 2026-27 schedule release.

The symmetry is convenient: the Leafs face Montreal and Ottawa in the preseason and then again in the season's opening week. Whatever the coaching staff learns about their lines and pairings against those two rivals in September, they will get to apply almost immediately once the games count. It is an unusually clean runway from exhibition to reality.

What to actually watch for

If you are budgeting your attention across these games, three things are worth prioritizing. First, the top-six auditions — every shift McKenna and Cowan take against real competition is a data point. Second, the blue-line pairings, because the defence is the roster's most-debated group and the preseason is the first chance to see whether the reshaped unit skates the way Chayka promised. Third, the bottom-six sorting, where a handful of depth forwards are fighting for the final roster spots that will decide how much bite the lineup carries into an 84-game grind.

None of it will show up in the standings. All of it will shape the roster that does. The Maple Leafs preseason schedule may be short and provincial, but for a team this thoroughly rebuilt over one summer, these four exhibition nights are the first real evidence of whether the plan works. Tickets are on sale now — and for once, the preseason is worth the price of admission.