What the Leafs' roster is projected to look like to start next season
Anybody ready for another season of Toronto Maple Leafs hockey?
Well, you’ll have to wait until October 9, when the NHL regular season officially kicks off, but we do have a pretty good picture of how the team’s roster will look next year.
With the NHL Draft and the biggest swath of free agent signings now in the rearview mirror, the team is mostly set up to make another push to the playoffs. Having qualified for the postseason eight years in a row, the Leafs are just about heading into Stanley Cup or bust territory.
And while there are still question marks about whether there are any other transactions on the way, the roster seems mostly similar to the one that’ll start the season come October.
We won’t be predicting any big trades or out-of-the-blue signings, but rather assume for this exercise Toronto will be sticking with players already under contract.
Based on NHL experience, their current contract status, and a bit of guessing, here’s what Toronto’s 23-man roster could like come this fall:
Projected Leafs forwards
- Auston Matthews
- John Tavares
- Mitchell Marner
- William Nylander
- Max Domi
- Calle Järnkrok
- David Kämpf
- Bobby McMann
- Matthew Knies
- Pontus Holmberg
- Nick Robertson
- Ryan Reaves
- Easton Cowan
On the brink: Fraser Minten
Not too many surprises here, with no new free agents joining the forward group so far.
Projected defencemen
- Morgan Rielly
- Christopher Tanev
- Oliver Ekman-Larsson
- Jake McCabe
- Timothy Liljegren
- Conor Timmins
- Simon Benoît
On the brink: Dakota Mermis, Philippe Myers, Jani Hakanpää
There might be a bit of internal competition for the final few defensive spots, but we’ll start this exercise by giving the tie to veterans and players with experience on the Leafs themselves.
Projected goalies
- Joseph Woll
- Anthony Stolarz
- Matt Murray
The Leafs carrying three goalies next year might make the most sense once again, having signed all three of them to new deals this week.
- You might also like:
- Jeff Skinner turned down Leafs contract offer to sign with Oilers
Follow Channels and Categories