Shane Doan, Maple Leafs Mutually Part Ways
The Toronto Maple Leafs have mutually parted ways with special assistant Shane Doan per Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic. Doan’s contract in Toronto was set to expire on June 30. He was originally hired by former Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving in 2023 and will step away before he has a chance to work alongside new general manager John Chayka.
Chayka took over the Arizona Coyotes general manager role in 2016, at the record-setting age of 26. Doan was the team’s star, having spent the last 12 seasons as the Coyotes’ captain. He was 40 years old entering the 2016-17 season and had lost the spark of his previous peak. That was proved when Doan only managed 27 points in 74 games – a mark that was deemed too low to re-sign him through his 40s despite Doan’s desire to keep playing, per ESPN. Arizona sought a trade through the season but, when no offers came through, Doan made the decision to retire in 2017.
Doan was hired as Arizona’s Director of Hockey Administration in 2020. He continued on in that role until the Coyotes were relocated to Utah following the 2022-23 season. The Coyotes’ move opened the door for Doan to grow his roots in NHL front offices. He moved into a Maple Leafs advisory role left vacant when Jason Spezza joined Kyle Dubas in a move to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Spezza has since taken on an assistant general manager and AHL general manager role with the Penguins.
Those could be the roles next in line for Doan, who will now be a managerial free agent amid a lot of change in NHL front offices. He could find a chance to move back to the NHL’s Pacific Division with vacancies in the Seattle Kraken or Vancouver Canucks front offices. Doan also played five seasons with current Philadelphia Flyers general manager Daniel Briere and could bring invaluable experience as Philadelphia looks to repeat their playoff berth this season.
Maple Leafs Assign Ben Danford To AHL
The Toronto Maple Leafs are bringing one of their top prospects to the professional ranks. According to an announcement from their AHL affiliate, the Toronto Marlies, the Maple Leafs have assigned defenseman Ben Danford to the AHL for the Calder Cup playoffs.
Despite having one of the worst prospect pools in the NHL, Danford is generally regarded as Toronto’s top prospect, especially since Easton Cowan became a full-time NHL player this season. The Maple Leafs selected Danford 31st overall in the 2024 NHL Draft.
Since then, the 20-year-old native of Madoc, Ontario, has been playing for the OHL’s Oshawa Generals and Brantford Bulldogs. Still, his development path hasn’t necessarily gone as the Maple Leafs may have liked. After registering 33 points with a +27 rating in 63 games with the Generals during his draft season, Danford dropped to 25 points and a +5 rating through 61 contests the following season.
It is important to highlight that Oshawa has gotten worse around Danford over the past few seasons. After being traded to the Bulldogs during the 2025-26 campaign, Danford improved his game, scoring two goals and accumulating 16 points in 37 games, along with a +12 rating. Furthermore, he added three more points in 13 postseason games during the OHL playoffs.
Although his offensive output decreased, Danford has remained a quality player on the defensive side of the puck. He’s rarely caught out of position and holds tight gaps, giving opposing forwards little room to get around him.
Unfortunately, if he draws into the postseason lineup for the Marlies, things aren’t going to get any easier for Danford in the short term. Toronto is coming off a hard-fought battle against the AHL’s Laval Rocket and has drawn a date against the Cleveland Monsters, a team that made it to the Eastern Conference Final last season.
Latest On Auston Matthews
After jumping into the second overall selection from last week’s draft lottery, the San Jose Sharks may capitalize on their luck by entertaining trade offers, outlined by The Fourth Period this morning.
With Toronto winning big last Tuesday, dominating many of the headlines, somewhat cast aside was the Sharks moving up seven spots to #2. Picking in the top five in each of the last three years, including second overall last summer (Michael Misa), the difference now is San Jose hardly needs another young forward in their pipeline, suddenly in win-now mode and past rebuild status. With Ivar Stenberg the clear cut second best player overall, defensemen such as Chase Reid and Keaton Verhoeff could be more attractive based on needs, but a reach at second overall from a value perspective.
2026 draftees aside, the Sharks netted an asset which would land a haul of NHL-ready talent, especially on the back-end, from any team looking to move up and select Stenberg. Known to be seeking upgrades on the blueline this summer, there’s perhaps no better trade chip than the one they hadn’t even expected to be holding today. As mentioned in the article above, GM Mike Grier also shopped his top pick last year, not ending up dealing it. If that proves to be the case again, rivals may be forced to prepare to deal with Stenberg, as part of a downright scary forward group in years to come.
Elsewhere across the league:
- In Friday’s episode of the 32 Thoughts Podcast, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet speculated that Auston Matthews may wait until later in the summer to decide on his future, but from Toronto’s behalf, they simply can’t wait that long to get “an idea”. Last week it was apparent that the new John Chayka regime had work to do to impress Matthews and ease his concerns on the team’s contention chances in the future. Winning the 2026 draft’s top selection is as good of a start as they could have hoped, but as Friedman notes, there’s still plenty more to be done with trades and free agency. Signed for two more years at $13.25MM, Matthews’ supposed “decision” is an entirely other conversation, as to what could even happen if things were to go awry. Regardless, it’s a major headline going into the off-season, and any moves Chayka will make will have Matthews’ interests in mind.
- Calgary Flames forward Adam Klapka was a final cut from Team Czechia at the 2026 IIHF World Championships. The 25-year-old was a member of last spring’s team, where he recorded three points in five games. Coming up short of the Olympic team in February, a result of his lack of special teams ability, it was likely the same case for today’s ruling. At 6’8”, the winger was brute force in his first full NHL season, racking up 112 penalty minutes and finishing fourth in the league with 295 hits. The righty chipped in offensively from the fourth line as well, tallying 18 points across his 79 games. Signed through next season, he’ll utilize the offseason to rest up from a long campaign where he more than doubled NHL appearances.
Topi Niemela Signs With IF Bjorkloven
Defenseman Topi Niemela will continue his career in Sweden. The 24 year old has signed with IF Bjorkloven who recently earned promotion to the SHL. Niemela moved to Sweden on a one-year deal with the Malmo Redhawks last summer. The deal marked a return to Europe for the former top Finnish defense prospect. Niemela’s NHL rights are held by the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Niemela scored four goals and 18 points in 52 games with Malmo. He ranked second on the team’s blue-line in scoring – 21 points behind former New York Islanders prospect Robin Salo in the lead. Niemela fell short of his AHL scoring in his move overseas. He had a promising break into the Toronto Marlies roster in 2023-24, finishing the year with 39 points in 68 games and a solid lineup role. He hit a dip in his attempts to follow it up, scoring just 22 points in 61 games of the 2024-25 season.
After failing to find an offensive boost in the SHL, Niemela will test his talents in a bigger role with Bjorkloven. He shined as an effective puck-mover through a four-season stint in Finland’s Liiga, prior to his first AHL season. Niemela reached 32 points in 48 games of the 2021-22 season, two years after Toronto landed him with the 64th-overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft. He fell back to 18 points in 58 games of the 2022-23 season, preluding a move to the Marlies lineup. Niemela would need a big performance to pop back up on the Maple Leafs’ radar, though a strong year in the SHL could be a promising start.
Leafs’ John Chayka To Meet With Auston Matthews, Craig Berube
The Toronto Maple Leafs have opened the doors to a new age after hiring John Chayka as general manager and Mats Sundin as a senior advisor. First order of business for the new staff will be finding how they want to define Toronto’s short-term goals – a task helped along by the club’s win at the 2026 NHL Draft lottery. With the top pick in hand, Chayka is now turning his attention towards meeting with the club’s most influential figures – head coach Craig Berube and franchise star Auston Matthews – in the near-future, per Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic on Thursday’s episode of TSN Overdrive.
There are conflicting reports of if a meeting date has been set yet, though. TSN’s Darren Dreger joined Overdrive to share that Chayka and Matthews do not have a date carved out yet, despite LeBrun’s mention of the inevitable meeting.
Whenever a meeting is held, the question to both Berube and Matthews will likely be the same: what role do you want to play in the Maple Leafs’ next few seasons? Reports have varied on Matthews’ commitment to the club that drafted him first-overall in 2016. He has already secured the franchise record with 428 career goals, passing Sundin’s 420 career goals earlier this season. Matthews also ranks fourth on the club with 780 career points. He has delivered a true star to the Toronto area, though the Maple Leafs weren’t able to turn that asset into postseason success, even with the support of Mitch Marner, William Nylander, and John Tavares.
Through nine consecutive postseason appearances between 2017 and 2025, Matthews has been the one under the microscope – especially after picking up the team’s captaincy in 2024. His game has faced scrutiny at every level – criticisms that are hard to curb as Matthews attempts to recover from an MCL tear sustained in March of this season. That injury contributed to Matthews only potting 53 points in 60 games this season, his first under a point-per-game since his rookie season in 2016-17.
With two seasons left on a four-year, $53MM contract signed in 2023, Matthews will have to answer the question of if he can handle the heat. The postseason will remain Toronto’s primary goal for as long as Matthews, Nylander, and Tavares are headlining the offense. If those runs will include Berube is yet to be seen, after the Stanley Cup-winning head coach failed to lead the Maple Leafs to the playoffs in his second season with the club. Berube led Toronto to 52 wins last season. He has made the postseason in five of his nine years manning an NHL bench, excluding his mid-season firing from the 2023-24 St. Louis Blues.
Should Matthews want to explore greener pastures, or Chayka decide to move on from Berube, the Maple Leafs would again be faced with having to fill a major hole. Matthews’ departure would bump Tavares into a starring role and clear path for Gavin McKenna – or another choice at first-overall – to move into a spotlight role. Dismissing Berube would make the Maple Leafs a top candidate for coaching free agents like Bruce Cassidy, Dean Evason, Jay Woodcroft, or Gerard Gallant. More changes would only further separate the Maple Leafs from their era of short-lived playoff runs – a task Chayka will begin to face before the 2026 NHL Draft rolls around.
Photo courtesy of Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images.
Tinus Luc Koblar Leaves Leksands IF
Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Tinus Luc Koblar will exit his club Leksands IF as a result of their relegation to Sweden’s second tier, the HockeyAllsvenskan. Koblar is a 2025 second-round pick of the club and was Toronto’s highest selection of its 2025 draft class. He was ranked as the No. 4 prospect in Toronto’s system by Scott Wheeler of The Athletic, who called Koblar a “big, strong, sturdy center who can skate.”
Toronto Maple Leafs, San Jose Sharks Win 2026 NHL Draft Lottery
The Toronto Maple Leafs have won the 2026 NHL draft lottery, shared by the league, which was conducted at the NHL Network Studios in Secaucus, New Jersey this evening. On 8.5% odds, Toronto jumped from #5 to the top selection and will be first on the stage on June 26 in Buffalo.
They were not the only club to have luck on their side, as the San Jose Sharks jumped from #9 to the second overall selection (5.2%), leaving the Vancouver Canucks to drop from the top slot to #3 overall. At this point, with the lottery determined, the 2026 draft’s first 16 selections are now official:
- Toronto Maple Leafs
- San Jose Sharks
- Vancouver Canucks
- Chicago Blackhawks
- New York Rangers
- Calgary Flames
- Seattle Kraken
- Winnipeg Jets
- Florida Panthers
- Nashville Predators
- St. Louis Blues
- New Jersey Devils
- New York Islanders
- Columbus Blue Jackets
- St. Louis Blues (from Red Wings)
- Washington Capitals
The Maple Leafs will have their choosing of the first player, for the first time since 2016, where they netted Auston Matthews, a draft which was also held in Buffalo. It will be the third time ever, the first being Wendel Clark in 1985. Of all the lottery scenarios tonight, Toronto’s chances at winning were a wild possibility, and sure enough, it has happened.
After hiring John Chayka as general manager, it was already apparent there’s serious pressure on the new regime to win over Matthews. Things couldn’t be off to better of a start than they are tonight. With a sparse free agent market, and complicated trade assets, the Leafs got a lucky break which has dramatically shifted their outlook. Just hoping to stay in the top five, to avoid relinquishing their pick to Boston as a result of the Brandon Carlo trade, that’s no longer a concern. Boston fans may simply look ahead to next year, but with conditions existing on the Philadelphia/Scott Laughton deal as well, they may have to wait for 2028 to obtain Toronto’s first rounder, while the 2027 selection would end up in the hands of Philadelphia.
Not to be outdone, already building one of the most talented young teams in the league, San Jose will pick #2 for the second consecutive season, despite taking a serious step forward, going 39-35-8 on the back of soon to be 20-year-old Macklin Celebrini‘s 115 points. It’s an embarrassment of riches for a team already thought to have one of the highest ranked prospect pools in the NHL, who will pick in the top five for the fourth straight year.
Gavin McKenna, widely considered to be the top prospect, jumped from Medicine Hat of the WHL to Penn State University in 2025-26, seeking a bigger challenge. Adversity he got, facing questions early on about his production against higher competition, as well as an off the ice incident where charges were eventually dropped. Through it all, the Whitehorse, Yukon native stayed the course, tying for fifth in NCAA scoring with 51 points in 35 games. Barring any major developments, Leaf fans can expect to see #72 in the blue and white next fall, although his immediate full time NHL role is a question mark. Even if not an immediate standout, McKenna’s offensive flair, reminiscent of Patrick Kane, has him a potential star for years to come. It’s about as perfect of a match as the organization could hope for after losing Mitch Marner, as McKenna is a natural wing who could feast alongside Matthews.
Likely missing out on the chance to select McKenna, but certainly not complaining, the Sharks still have a tremendous prospect in their grasp, Ivar Stenberg. The Swedish winger posted 33 points for Frolunda of the SHL, playing against men and coming away fifth in team scoring despite playing in fewer games than teammates. Back in January, the 18-year-old was thought to be emerging as jumping McKenna for the top spot. Largely considered to be a top six lock, with first line upside, Stenberg could be an immediate contributor wearing the teal next season. If so, he’d complete an entire top six corps made up of dynamic young forwards: Celebrini, Will Smith, William Eklund, Michael Misa, and Igor Chernyshov. Clearly not in much need of another forward, Stenberg is likely too strong a prospect to pass on.
Outside of McKenna and Stenberg, holding the highest upside, the field opens up a bit, which is especially cruel to Vancouver, who fell to #3, a range the haven’t found themselves in since selecting the Sedin twins in 1999. Defensemen Chase Reid, Keaton Verhoeff, and Alberts Smits all offer top pairing potential as prospects any team would salivate over. If that’s the path they take, the Canucks would create a tremendous one-two punch with 20-year-old Zeev Buium.
Also worth mentioning, Caleb Malholtra stands out as the top center. Son of longtime NHL center Manny Malholtra, and current head coach of the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks, Caleb will benefit from a major breakout campaign with the OHL’s Brantford Bulldogs, and being a member of a draft class which is more thin down the middle among the top five. Besides the obvious connections, it will be a story line to watch on if Vancouver passes on the defensemen and considers Malholtra, who will join Boston University next fall.
Last year the New York Islanders jumped from #10 to the top spot. After a solid playoff window, their aging core was running out of juice. There was a fair bit of speculation on if they could select a game-breaking forward such as Misa or go with the top player, defenseman Matthew Schaefer, who lost a large chunk of his draft year due to injury.
New York went with Schaefer, as Misa landed with the Sharks, and the reward was massive. The teenager led all Islanders in ice time, playing over 24 minutes a night, scoring 23 goals and 36 helpers for 59 points in 82 games. The #1 pick finished second in the entire NHL in goal scoring from defensemen, a spectacular campaign for a player who wasn’t even a lock to make the roster. For how good he was as a rookie, it’s scary to think about what is in store. Such is indicative of the power of the draft lottery, and a number which will always be synonymous with Schaefer as an Islander; 3.5%.
Meanwhile, Toronto will hope to have the same sort of fortune with their selection. Often the NHL lottery is weighed by the “deserved” scale, up for interpretation. While every franchise deserves the opportunity to select game breaking talent, especially those with the worst records, it’s fascinating to consider how different things could be for the Maple Leafs, and just how much they had at stake tonight. Rather than forking over a top 10 selection to their playoff nemesis, and coming away with nothing from a lost season, the lights are as bright in Toronto as ever, and now, they’re on the clock for June 26.
Latest On Auston Matthews’ Maple Leafs Future
The Athletic’s Chris Johnston has reported, citing league sources, that Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews “still isn’t sure if he’ll be back in Toronto in the fall.”
What this means, according to Johnston, is that Toronto’s freshly-hired hockey operations leaders, GM John Chayka and senior advisor Mats Sundin, “will be auditioning” to keep Matthews “with their work around draft week in late June and the opening of free agency on July 1.”
Matthews reportedly has “some understandable concerns” about the Maple Leafs’ ability to vault back to their prior status as a team legitimately capable of contending for a Stanley Cup.
What Matthews appears to be looking for from the Maple Leafs is “real action,” meaning tangible transactions that meaningfully improve the caliber of the roster Matthews currently occupies a spot on.
Chayka and Sundin will meet with Matthews at some point in the coming weeks to discuss his future, but a firm decision on where he’s leaning is not expected at that time.
Whether the new leadership will be able to make enough changes to turn around the Maple Leafs, who finished 28th in the NHL just a year after finishing fourth in the standings, is the key question.
The upcoming class of free agents is widely considered to be thin on difference-making talent, and the team’s prospect pool (which ranked No. 29 in the NHL according to The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler) isn’t overflowing with valuable trade chips.
Of course, that doesn’t mean there aren’t avenues for the Maple Leafs to make significant improvements. Every summer, there are unheralded signings or trade additions that end up making a big impact in the years to come. But what it does mean is the Maple Leafs don’t have an abundance of obvious routes back to contention.
In most cases, that’s totally fine. Hockey operations leaders almost always more interested in moves that translate to wins on the ice in the winter, not wins in the headlines in the summer.
But in Toronto’s case, the scarcity of available big-name talent might genuinely matter. If their most immediate, pressing task is convincing Matthews they can quickly rebound and return to contention, working the margins of the roster and relying on savvy moves for undervalued players may not be enough to move the needle.
It’s too early to tell whether the Maple Leafs will ultimately be successful in their efforts for a quick turnaround. But Johnston’s reporting is still significant, as it indicates that the future of Toronto’s best player is far from set in stone.
Photos courtesy of John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images
Korbinian Holzer Announces Retirement
According to an announcement from the ICEHL’s Graz99ers, former NHL defenseman Korbinian Holzer has officially hung up his skates. He spent nine years in the NHL playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Anaheim Ducks, and Nashville Predators.
Holzer’s professional career in North America began nearly two decades ago, being selected with the 111th overall pick (fourth round) of the Maple Leafs in the 2006 NHL Draft. Before joining North American ice, Holzer played several seasons with the DEL’s DEG Metro Stars, finishing the 2009-10 season with six goals and 22 points.
Finally making the jump, Holzer spent most of the 2010-11 campaign with the AHL’s Toronto Marlies, registering three goals and 13 points in 73 games with a +10 rating. Still, he managed to debut with the Maple Leafs, earning a -1 rating in two contests.
After spending the 2011-12 season exclusively with the Marlies, Holzer became a more consistent precense on the Maple Leafs’ blue line. Between 2012 and 2015, Holzer appeared in 56 games for Toronto, scoring two goals and nine points, averaging 17:39 of ice time.
Unfortunately, the team that drafted him wasn’t convinced of his staying power. Toronto passed Holzer through waivers ahead of the 2014-15 season, and eventually traded him to the Ducks the following season.
Orange County is where Holzer enjoyed the best seasons of his NHL career. Remaining a seventh defenseman with Anaheim, Holzer spent five years with the Ducks organization, scoring four goals and 18 points in 145 games with a -2 rating, averaging 14:48 of ice time per game. Failing to provide much offense, Holzer was a responsible player in the defensive zone, earning a 92.5% on-ice SV% at even strength while beginning 53.6% of his shifts in the defensive zone.
After a trade to the Predators toward the 2020 trade deadline, Holzer’s career in North America concluded. He has had multiple pit stops since then, playing for the KHL’s Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg, the DEL’s Adler Mannheim, before finally concluding his professional career with the Graz99ers.
Over eight years, Holzer scored six goals and 27 points in 206 NHL contests, with another 12 goals and 79 points in 297 AHL appearances. We at PHR congratulate Holzer on his career and wish him the best in his next chapter.
Offseason Checklist: Toronto Maple Leafs
The offseason has arrived for half of the league’s teams that aren’t taking part in the playoffs. Accordingly, it’s now time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months. Next up is a look at the Maple Leafs.
To say this season didn’t go to plan for Toronto would be an understatement. Coming off just their second series win in the Auston Matthews era in 2025, there were going to be changes after bowing out to the Panthers – Mitch Marner‘s long-understood departure via a sign-and-trade to the Golden Knights was the biggest of them all – but the hope was that a bevy of depth free agent signings could help replace the star playmaker’s production by committee. Instead, the Leafs floundered, finishing with their worst record in 10 years and losing Matthews to a torn MCL in March, which eventually cost general manager Brad Treliving his job. Now, after installing John Chayka as his replacement earlier today, a list of daunting tasks awaits him without the guarantee of a first-round pick, which they’ll only retain if Tuesday’s lottery balls keep them within the top five.
Settle The Coaching Question
Chayka still has nearly two months until the opening of free agency in July, so he’ll have plenty of run-up to make player personnel decisions. The more pressing matter is the future of Craig Berube, who just wrapped up his second season behind Toronto’s bench with a 20-win regression. It would be surprising to see Chayka, who was aggressive with limited resources during his time atop the Coyotes’ front office, not move to bring in a new voice behind the bench. Doing so sooner rather than later is paramount, with a pair of high-profile, late-season fired candidates still available in Bruce Cassidy and Patrick Roy.
Seeing Berube remain behind the bench would be especially shocking, given how analytics-forward Chayka is. Even amid last season’s success, the Maple Leafs were middle of the pack in 5-on-5 expected goals share (49.8%) and were even worse in the playoffs, per MoneyPuck. This season, that number tumbled to a 30th-ranked 45.6% while their actual results followed suit, finishing 16th in goals for per game (3.07) but second-worst in goals against (3.60) and worst in shots against (32.4) by a significant margin.
Berube still has two years left on his contract, which he signed in 2024 to replace Sheldon Keefe. Given Toronto’s virtually unlimited financial resources, that’s not a concern for them, but it is indicative of just how quickly the franchise’s momentum has changed.
Solidify A Long-Term Plan
The Leafs’ two remaining “franchise” forwards after Marner’s departure, Matthews and William Nylander, have both expressed uncertainty about their futures if the team’s next GM opts for a full-scale rebuild rather than a short-term reload. Presenting them – particularly Matthews, who’s much closer to unrestricted free agency in 2028 – with a long-term vision needs to be higher on Chayka’s list so he can plan his offseason accordingly.
For a team whose draft pick and prospect cupboards are so bare, opting for a long-term route that Matthews and Nylander aren’t enthused about should immediately trigger trade conversations. Whether a deal of that magnitude could be cobbled together quickly enough to transpire by the draft is a different question entirely, but it’s a possibility all sides need to prepare themselves for (or definitively rule out) depending on Chayka’s vision.
They simply can’t afford a situation like Marner’s, where his signing rights as a pending UFA were sold for pennies on the dollar. They have plenty of cap space for next season, but a thin free agent market to spend it on. Matthews and Nylander could likely be appeased by a clear-cut plan of attack that gets them back to playoff/championship contention by the end of Matthews’ deal two years from now, but if that’s not something Chayka is confident in being able to achieve, he’ll be thrust into making one, if not multiple, of the most franchise-altering trades in recent memory.
Consider Goaltending Options
Toronto’s goals-against regression had more to do with team defense than goaltending, but it’s not as if their netminding was particularly inspiring. A year after serving as arguably the league’s most efficient goaltending tandem, Anthony Stolarz and Joseph Woll were both decidedly below average in 2025-26. Woll was “good” for -6.6 goals saved above expected in 39 outings while Stolarz had a -6.7 mark in 26 games amid another injury-plagued season, per MoneyPuck. This was, of course, after Treliving had locked Stolarz into a seemingly now ill-advised four-year, $15MM extension that begins next season.
That $3.75MM cap hit isn’t much of an eyesore on its own. Stolarz has long been one of the league’s better backups, and it stands he’ll rebound to some degree. But Toronto’s bright spot between the pipes this season was third-stringer Dennis Hildeby, who was excellent when stepping in during Stolarz and Woll’s various absences. Despite a 5-7-4 record, he managed a .912 SV% in 14 starts and six relief appearances to save a raucous 10.5 goals above expected.
Notably, Hildeby loses his waiver exemption next season. He won’t be able to head to the AHL without risking a claim. Still just 24 years old, that’s a fate the Leafs are surely looking to avoid. Chayka’s analytical bent means Hildeby likely won’t be the name on the way out if Chayka decides that carrying three goalies next season isn’t prudent.
However, there’s a strong argument to be made that staying the course is the best path forward. Stolarz’s ever-persistent injury concerns, despite his high ceiling, make a perfectly strong argument for carrying a third netminder, particularly with all three on affordable deals that would only total up to $8.25MM against the cap.
Toronto did briefly explore moving Stolarz prior to the trade deadline, but he stayed put. He’d almost surely be the name on the move if Chayka does move in that direction, but with a 16-team no-trade list, his options will be limited.
Refresh The Blue Line
Treliving leaves behind an overpaid, sluggish defense corps in Toronto. Obvious, easy-to-trade candidates are hard to come by. With seven names already signed to one-way deals for next season, pending UFAs Matt Benning and Troy Stecher are almost sure candidates to walk.
Outside of that, they have three 2027 UFAs in Brandon Carlo, Simon Benoit, and Philippe Myers. Only Carlo will fetch any significant value, and even then, it won’t be close to the potentially top-10 pick they’ll end up sending to the Bruins to acquire him at the 2025 deadline. Moving Morgan Rielly‘s $7.5MM cap hit should be of some intrigue, but with a no-movement clause, it could prove impossible – especially with Toronto no longer being in a severe cap crunch to force a move. There’s also something to be said for the fact that he’s still Toronto’s best goal-scoring D-man, despite his increasingly obvious skating and defensive deficiencies.
It’s here where Chayka’s hiring appears most targeted. He made a few shrewd blue-line acquisitions during his tenure in Arizona, often by taking on undesirable contracts that teams weren’t properly valuing or using. Jason Demers and Alex Goligoski were particularly effective pickups for short bursts. With such limited capital to trade from, though, he’ll need to pull out some “Moneyball”-style pickups to get the most out of Toronto’s defensive depth.
Image courtesy of John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images.