Philippe Myers Trade: Why the Maple Leafs Are Ready to Move On

Why a Philippe Myers trade is Toronto's cleanest remaining move

A Philippe Myers trade has become the most obvious piece of housekeeping left on John Chayka's desk. The right-shot defenceman has one season left on his contract at an $850,000 cap hit, he has been squeezed off Toronto's depth chart by three separate additions since June, and the rumour mill this week has Chayka open to moving him before training camp opens in mid-September. At least one report suggests Myers has asked to be dealt. The Maple Leafs have not confirmed that, and it should be treated as unconfirmed, but the roster math points the same direction no matter who raised the subject first.

This is not a blockbuster. It is the kind of transaction that gets four paragraphs on a Tuesday and then never gets mentioned again. It is still worth understanding, because it is a clean window into how tight Toronto's roster has become — and into how little room a team sitting at 49 of 50 standard player contracts has to solve a problem the old-fashioned way.

What Philippe Myers actually did last season

Myers dressed in 39 games for the Maple Leafs in 2025-26 and averaged 14:32 of ice time. He finished with two assists, no goals, and a minus-10. The underlying puck-management numbers were worse than the counting stats: 35 giveaways against four takeaways over those 39 games, which is the kind of ratio that gets a third-pair defenceman moved down and then out.

None of that makes him a bad NHL player. Myers is 6-foot-5, he can skate for his size, and he has more than 200 games of NHL experience. On a team with a hole on the right side he is a perfectly reasonable seventh or eighth defenceman, and there are teams in that position right now. On this Toronto roster, in this configuration, he is the ninth name on a list with eight jobs.

It is also fair to note the deployment context. Myers was in and out of the lineup all year under Craig Berube, which is close to the worst possible situation for a defenceman whose value is built on physical reads and timing. Players in that role rarely look good in the numbers. But the Leafs are not obligated to keep paying for the chance to find out, and this front office has shown no sentimentality about the bottom of a depth chart.

How the depth chart closed on him

Chayka's summer did three things that each independently hurt Myers.

First, Toronto acquired Darren Raddysh and then committed to him long term, which entrenched a puck-moving right shot in the top four. Our breakdown of the Raddysh contract covers why that deal was structured the way it was, but the roster consequence is simple: the right side got a lot less negotiable.

Second, the Leafs brought in Emil Andrae in the June trade that sent Joseph Woll and Simon Benoit to Philadelphia. Andrae is younger, cheaper in real dollars over time, and can play either side, which makes him exactly the sort of flexible seventh defenceman a cap-strapped team wants to keep. We wrote about Andrae's fit in the logjam when the deal happened, and nothing since has made his position weaker.

Third, Ben Danford spent the spring winning a Calder Cup with the Toronto Marlies and has said publicly that his goal is to make the opening-night roster. Danford is also a right shot. Our look at Danford's push for a job laid out why the organization is inclined to give him a real look rather than block him with a veteran on a minimum deal.

Add Jake McCabe, Chris Tanev, Morgan Rielly, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Troy Stecher to Raddysh and Andrae, and you have seven defencemen with claims on NHL work before Danford is even in the conversation. Myers is behind all of it.

The $850,000 problem, and why moving him is not cap relief

Here is the part that gets misread constantly. Myers carries an $850,000 cap hit, which is exactly the new league minimum for 2026-27 under the current collective bargaining agreement. The minimum-salary escalator in the current CBA means the practical effect is that you cannot replace Myers with anyone cheaper. There is no cheaper.

So trading him does not fix Toronto's cap problem. The Leafs are projected around $106.75 million against a $104 million ceiling, roughly $2.75 million over, and the compliance route runs through Max Domi's long-term injured reserve placement rather than through anything on the blue line. Our piece on the $2.75 million overage walks through that math in detail. Moving an $850,000 contract changes it by nothing meaningful.

What a Myers trade does buy is a contract slot and a clean roster. Toronto sits at 49 of the 50 standard player contracts a team is permitted, which means every signing from here — a training-camp conversion, an in-season depth add, a deadline claim — competes for one opening. Freeing a slot at no cap cost is a real, if unglamorous, win.

What Toronto could realistically get back

Set expectations low. A third-pair defenceman on an expiring minimum contract with two assists and a minus-10 does not fetch a pick worth naming. The honest comparable range is a conditional late-round selection, a swap of similar contracts, or a future consideration.

The more useful frame is who needs him. Teams carrying injuries on the right side, teams spending near the cap floor who need bodies at real salary, and rebuilding clubs that simply need a veteran to eat minutes in October — those are the buyers. There is no bidding war here, and Chayka is not going to manufacture one by leaking a price.

The alternative construction is to attach Myers to a larger deal as a contract-slot balancer. If Toronto moves a bigger forward salary before camp, tucking Myers into that trade is a way to hand the other club a cheap, movable body while clearing two slots at once. That is the version most likely to actually happen.

The waiver route, and why it is messier than it used to be

The obvious question: why trade him at all when the Leafs could simply assign him to the Marlies?

Because Myers would have to clear waivers to get there, and a 6-foot-5 right shot on a minimum contract is precisely the profile a cap-floor team claims for free. If he is claimed, Toronto gets nothing. If he clears, the Leafs have a $850,000 defenceman in the American Hockey League who does not want to be there, on a roster where the Marlies are already trying to develop Danford and others.

The new CBA also removed the escape hatch that used to make this kind of situation manageable. Beginning in 2026-27, paper transactions are banned: a player who is reassigned has to actually report to the minor-league club and play a game before he can be recalled. There is a narrow exception on trade deadline day for AHL playoff eligibility, and another for goaltenders when the NHL club does not have two healthy ones. For everyone else, a demotion is now a real demotion with real travel and a real game attached.

That change matters more than most fans have digested. It is the same rule set that makes Toronto's 50th contract so valuable, and it is a big reason the Leafs would rather resolve a Myers situation with a phone call in August than manage it with transactions in November.

What's next

Training camps open across the league in mid-September, and Toronto's regular season starts Sept. 29 at home against Montreal in the first game of an 84-game schedule. That is the deadline that actually governs this. If Chayka is going to move Myers, the window is the next three or four weeks, when other clubs are still finalizing their own depth and an injury somewhere creates a buyer.

The realistic outcomes, in order of likelihood: Myers is included as a secondary piece in a larger cap-clearing trade; Myers is dealt on his own for a late-round pick; or nothing happens, he comes to camp, and Toronto sorts it out with waivers in early October. Only the last one costs the Leafs anything, and only a little.

Keep an eye on Toronto's contract sheet as camp approaches. The Myers question will be answered quietly, and it will tell you something about how aggressively this front office intends to use its one remaining contract slot.