#toronto-maple-leafs

#toronto-maple-leafs

With the Toronto Maple Leafs struggling to start the 2025-26 NHL season, they will need to find a way to turn things around soon before it's too late. Whether it be tinkering with the everyday lineup, promoting or demoting players, or even potentially making external moves to make the team better, the Leafs definitely need to try something to get them out of their funk. As a result, which Maple Leafs players could see their hold on a roster spot in jeopardy in the coming weeks? Let's take a look at three candidates that likely won't survive the roster by November.

The season is still young but also isn't nothing and whether you feel the Leafs will be fine or not is somewhat irrelevant. What matters is that this doesn't look like a club that is attempting to prove that they can do even better without Mitch Marner. Matias Maccelli, Nicolas Roy, and Dakota Joshua haven't taken steps back from their 2024-25 downturns, and Anthony Stolarz' save percentage points to a club that is witnessing their PDO bubble burst.

Woll will resume on-ice activities as he works his way back into form, while Anthony Stolarz remains as the incumbent starter. Woll was granted the leave of absence on September 23 and has been away from the team since. Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving met with reporters at the Ford Performance Centre on September 23 to address Woll's leave, and did not provide a timeline for his return.

Rielly was already considered questionable for Friday's game, dealing with an injury he had suffered on Tuesday against the New Jersey Devils. No details have been given on what Rielly is dealing with, nor its severity. That being said, considering he played the full game Tuesday, skated Friday, and is still a possibility for Saturday, there's good reason to believe it's nothing too serious and the Leafs are just being cautious.

It took almost a year for this dream to become a reality, but one bettor turned a $93, four-leg parlay into a six-figure payday. And the Toronto Blue Jays punching their ticket to the World Series earlier this week was the W the lucky sports fan needed to cash out his winnings. Known on Instagram as @halfwolfhalfish, the bettor strung together a mix of futures bets to build out his parlay with odds of +107765.

Perhaps no new Maple Leaf has been as inconsistent as Maccelli through the first seven games. He's gone from first line with Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies, to second line, to being demoted to the bottom six throughout the first few weeks. Maccelli is averaging 13:49 of ice-time per game, he's recorded just two points in seven games, and what's really stood out the most is his inability to manage the puck.

There needs to be some real accountability regarding the lineup card and some significant changes need to be made where things are clearly not working. I've alluded to some of these issues previously. Max Domi is at best a hot mess and it's a tough sell to say he belongs in an NHL lineup the way he's playing. The same can be said for Nick Robertson, Dakota Joshua, and Brandon Carlo.

In explaining why Leafs held only an optional skate, Craig Berube says there's guys banged up who had to stay off the ice anyway so it wouldn't have been a full practice Notes there's games Friday & Saturday with an early start Saturday Felt they would get more from a meeting Craig Berube says he thinks Scott Laughton will be on the ice tomorrow (individually) After seeing how he does there. "hopefully he's back on the ice with us shortly." @BodogCA

Laughton has had rotten luck since being acquired by the Leafs from the Philadelphia Flyers at last season's trade deadline. The 31-year-old forward was not able to adjust to coming back to his hometown and just before training camp a couple months ago, he had to explain why his time in Toronto has gone so poorly so far. With hope that he could turn it around and really be a stabilizing force down in the Leafs' bottom six, there was general optimism heading into the season.

"I think it's a little bit of everything," Matthews said. "It's attitude and commitment from us to take care of the puck in certain situations, certain parts of the game. The second period's been a bit of a struggle for us lately. I think a lot of it just comes down to execution: being mentally focused and executing out there. We've shown flashes of it, but it has to be throughout the whole 60 minutes."

Jack Hughes is one of the most dynamic players in the NHL and he submitted a dominant effort, capping off his hat-trick with an empty-net goal, as 30 seconds remained on the clock. Hughes used his tremendous speed to great effect and he crushed the Maple Leafs with the totality of his skill set. Toronto made it easy at times: Hughes walked in without much resistance for his first goal of the contest, wiring a shot cleanly past Anthony Stolarz.

he needs a reset, get a game to watch. It's always good for young guys to watch a game at some point

Very difficult, there was a couple, definitely, sleepless nights, just thinking of a massive decision, not only for me but for my family, my wife, my son as well. It was super tough, it was not an easy decision at all. Tough moments at the time, but tried to make the best move that we thought was going to best for our family going forward,

On the wing for the foreseeable future, they have young top-six players like Michkov and Tyson Foerster, and then Travis Konecny will be there for the long haul after the veteran winger signed an eight-year contract extension. Throw in skilled Bobby Brink and other prospects like top guy Porter Martone and roster hopefuls like Alex Bump and Nikita Grebenkin, and the Flyers are loaded on the wing.

Coming back to Toronto, you know this Leafs team very well. What do you expect out of them? Lambert: They're a dynamic hockey team with tremendous individual skill. They don't need a lot of opportunities to put the puck in the net. They're dangerous. Watching them play the Rangers, they played fast. They're just a good hockey team that is solid top to bottom. They've got a defense core and good goaltending. Good team.

One of the bright spots for the Toronto Maple Leafs has been Oliver Ekman-Larsson. In four games this season, he has racked up a goal and two assists for three points. All of these points came in the Leafs ' 7-4 victory over the Nashville Predators on Tuesday, October 14th. This performance earned him the second star. It's the type of performance we were used to seeing from vintage Ekman-Larsson. Going into this season, not much was expected of Ekman-Larsson.

I thought we came out and played a good first period. We were doing things right and got the lead. In the second period, when a team is down, they come out a little more intensely. I called a timeout; our intensity level wasn't where it needed to be, but the guys responded, which was good. Overall, it was a pretty good game with a lot of good things. It's a back-to-back game.

The Toronto Maple Leafs had a great regular season last year and made it a fourth straight season with 100 or more points, but it was the first time they would win the Atlantic Division as it is today. They got off to a great start to defending their division title with a dominant 5-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens to open the season.

"I think it's great, I love being in a market where there's so much passion," he said. "I can't imagine wanting to be in a different place where you wouldn't want to win. I really appreciate the passion; it's ingrained in everybody's blood here. I see bumper stickers all the time. I see kids with jerseys at school and I absolutely love it. Wouldn't want to be anywhere else."