Maple Leafs News & Analysis

Maple Leafs goaltending projects 30th in the NHL while Toronto's skaters rated the second-best offseason gain in the league. One position decides the season.

The biggest Maple Leafs roster cuts of camp landed Monday: 30 players to the Marlies, the group down to 32, and Easton Cowan still standing.

The Rielly-Raddysh pairing is Toronto's plan, not an experiment. Jim Hiller wants two offence-first defencemen together, started in the offensive zone.

The Dakota Joshua injury is now a real problem. Jim Hiller would not commit to the winger for Sept. 29, and Joshua has still not played a preseason game.

How to watch the Maple Leafs this season: no NHL on CBC for the first time since 1952, Prime Video Wednesdays from Sept. 30, TSN4 and Sportsnet regionally.

Erik Karlsson contract talks have not begun in Pittsburgh. He hits free agency in July 2027, the same summer Toronto's cap room finally arrives.

A Shane Wright trade is still on the table and the Leafs have the hole for it. Why the fit is real, the price is not payable, and December is the moment.

Frank Seravalli says a Samuel Montembeault trade will be the NHL's first of the season. Montreal has three goalies, two jobs, and a rival opening night.

Maple Leafs roster decisions come down to one split-squad night in Ottawa and Toronto. Cowan, Blankenburg, the seventh defenceman and McKenna's nine games.

Dylan Larkin trade talks stalled on one condition: Detroit would not take futures. What that standoff means for the Maple Leafs and the Atlantic.

Maple Leafs bottom six scored three on Montreal's top group in a 4-3 OT loss. Sissons, Rybinski and the Cowan line made the better case.

Sergei Bobrovsky's Maple Leafs debut: 10 saves on 11 shots, then Stolarz for 15 more. The workload split is the whole $21-million bet.

Gavin McKenna power play role is the second unit, not the first. Hiller's September logic is sound. His November logic needs to be different.

Gavin McKenna debut: three shots, no points, 19 minutes against Montreal's best pair. Toronto lost 4-1, and the rookie was not the reason.

Samuel Hlavaj was among the best goalies at the 2026 Olympics. Now he is Toronto's fourth-stringer on $850,000, behind an ageing NHL tandem.

Auston Matthews offensive zone freedom is Jim Hiller's real change, undoing the Berube structure. The takeaway numbers explain why. The risk is real.

Morgan Rielly is back with the Leafs main group after a viral condition — and Jim Hiller put Emil Andrae on his left. That pairing is the real story.

The Auston Matthews TSN Top 50 ranking dropped him to No. 14. After 53 points in 60 games that is generous — and Nylander at No. 30 is the real snub.