Maple Leafs Bottom Six 2026-27: How Chayka's Depth Rebuild Is Built to Unleash the Core

A quieter overhaul with a clear purpose

The headlines belonged to the goaltending swap and the No. 1 pick, but the most systematic change John Chayka made this summer was to the Maple Leafs bottom six. Toronto's new general manager spent his depth dollars on a specific type of player — defensively responsible, penalty-killing, faceoff-capable forwards — and the result is a bottom six built with a single job in mind: take the hard minutes so the stars can chase offence. It is not glamorous. It might be the most coherent thing the Leafs did all offseason.

Colton Sissons, Teddy Blueger and Jack Roslovic arrived on matching two-year deals, joining holdovers like Dakota Joshua, Steven Lorentz and Nick Paul to remake the bottom two lines. The Maple Leafs bottom six that opens 2026-27 will look and play differently than the one that closed a disappointing 2025-26 — heavier on structure, deeper down the middle, and cheaper than the veteran-patch groups Toronto has leaned on for years.

The signings, by the numbers

Start with the ledger. Sissons signed for two years at a $4.25-million cap hit, the priciest of the additions and a bet on his two-way reliability and centre versatility. Blueger came in at $2.5 million on a two-year deal, a classic bottom-six utility signing — a centre who can play wing, kill penalties and win a draw. Roslovic, also on a two-year term, brings something the others do not: legitimate scoring pop, a speedy winger capable of a 20-goal season who can also fill in at centre.

Layer in the players already under contract. Joshua, acquired to add size and a heavier forecheck, carries a $3.25-million cap hit. Paul was brought in specifically to solve the third-line centre hole. Lorentz gives the group a defensively trusted extra. That is a genuine depth chart, not a collection of one-year fliers — and it is deep enough to survive the attrition of a longer season.

The thesis: defensive depth unleashes the top six

Every one of these moves points the same direction. Stock the bottom six with strong penalty killers and defensive-zone specialists, and the coaching staff can hand the tough assignments down the lineup — freeing Auston Matthews, William Nylander and the top-six scorers to play a more offence-first game with favourable starts. It is the template contenders have used for a decade: pay your stars to score, and surround them with cheap, responsible depth that does not leak goals when the top guys rest.

For a team that has too often asked its best players to do everything — drive offence and eat defensive minutes — that division of labour matters. If Sissons, Blueger, Paul and Joshua can reliably win their shifts and kill penalties, Jim Hiller gets to deploy his skill players in the spots where they do the most damage. That is the entire point of the rebuild.

Penalty kill and faceoffs, on purpose

Look closely and the special-teams intent is obvious. Sissons and Blueger are both established penalty killers; Paul and Lorentz can chip in shorthanded as well. A Toronto penalty kill that graded out poorly at stretches last season now has a deeper, more experienced group of forwards to throw at it across an 84-game grind. Faceoffs, too, get a lift — Sissons, Blueger, Paul and Tavares give Hiller multiple options to send out for a defensive-zone draw with the game on the line.

These are unsexy skills that decide close games in March and April. A team trying to climb back into the playoff race in a loaded Atlantic cannot afford to bleed goals shorthanded or lose the puck off the draw in its own end. Chayka's depth signings are a direct response to those specific failures.

There is a compounding benefit, too. A bottom six that can be trusted defensively lets the coaching staff shorten the bench late in tight games without exposing a weak link, and it reduces the temptation to overplay the stars. Fewer minutes on Matthews and Nylander in November and December is how a team keeps them fresh for the spring — and a deep, reliable bottom six is what makes that math possible. Depth is not just insurance against injury; it is insurance against burning out the players you cannot replace.

Centre depth for an 84-game season

The most valuable byproduct of the rebuild is centre depth. Between Tavares, Sissons, Blueger and Paul, the Leafs can run four functional pivots and shuffle wingers around them — exactly the flexibility a team needs across the longest regular season since 1994. Injuries down the middle sink seasons; Toronto has finally built a buffer against that. Sissons can slide up to the third line, Blueger can anchor the fourth, and the group can absorb a short-term loss without collapsing.

That depth also protects the development runway for the young forwards. If a prospect is not ready, the Leafs are not forced to rush him into a role he cannot handle, because there is a veteran floor beneath him. Depth buys patience, and patience is what a re-tool needs.

The size and cost tradeoff

There is a fair critique here: skilled, defensively-minded depth can trend small and light, and the Atlantic Division does not lack for heavy teams. Joshua is the answer to that concern — a big-bodied forechecker who brings the sandpaper the skill players do not. But his name has also surfaced in cap-clearing conversations, and if Toronto needs to open space for another move, Joshua is one of the likelier trade chips. Losing him would thin out the group's size in a way the Leafs would need to address.

Cost-wise, though, the group is a clear win. Chayka replaced expensive, aging veteran patches with mid-priced, multi-year deals that carry defined roles. It is a cheaper, more sustainable bottom six than Toronto has iced in years — the kind of structure that lets a top-heavy roster function under a hard cap without papering over holes every deadline.

Where the holes remain

Fixing the bottom six does not fix everything. Toronto's top-four defence remains a question, and no amount of fourth-line penalty killing changes that. The bottom six can only do its job if the group in front of the goaltender holds up, and that is where the Leafs' offseason still feels unfinished. A deep, responsible bottom six is a necessary condition for a bounce-back season — not a sufficient one.

Still, credit where it is due. The depth rebuild is the part of Toronto's summer with the clearest logic and the fewest loose ends. It addresses real, documented weaknesses from last season, it does so at a reasonable price, and it is built for the specific demands of an 84-game schedule.

What's next

Camp will settle the pecking order — who centres the third line, where Roslovic slots, whether a young forward pushes a veteran down the chart. Watch the penalty-kill units early; if the new group tightens Toronto's shorthanded numbers, the whole plan starts to look smart. And keep an eye on the cap sheet: if Chayka needs room for a defence upgrade, this bottom six is where the flexibility lives. For a full picture of how it all fits together, the projected lineup lays out the lines and pairings. The stars will decide how high Toronto's ceiling climbs. The bottom six will decide how solid its floor is — and this year, for once, the floor looks built to hold.