Way too early 2026–27 Toronto Maple Leafs lineup predictions

As of April 3, 2026, the Toronto Maple Leafs have officially missed the playoffs for the first time since 2016. The nine-year playoff streak had been the longest active in the NHL, and it has unfortunately been broken. With not much to look forward to this year, now would be a good time to make some very early 2026 line predictions.

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Reason for optimism

With everything that went wrong this season, it’s hard to believe this lineup will be back to being competitive in just one offseason, but there are definitely some reasons for optimism. The Leafs finally fired the man who has been destroying the franchise since the day he was hired: Brad Treliving. Better yet, MLSE CEO Keith Pelley mentioned wanting to hire a data-driven general manager, something the org desperately needs. The team might finally stop operating backwards and start turning the ship around. With that being said, it’s time to look at who the Leafs may acquire and who they may move on from this offseason.

Morgan Rielly

Morgan Rielly’s future in Toronto has been a talking point amongst Leafs fans for years. His play has taken a huge dip in the past few years, and although it is often exaggerated by both the Toronto media and fans, he still clearly isn’t the player he used to be. Combine his fall off with his $7.5 million AAV contract with four years remaining, Mo unfortunately becomes a prime buyout/trade candidate heading into the offseason. Recent reports say that many NHL teams see Rielly as a potential rejuvenation project, but would only be willing to take the contract on if the Leafs retain or pay a high price to dump it. Chances are that the longest tenured Leaf may not be in the lineup to start the season for the first time since 2013.

Other notable potential departures

There are many familiar faces that we may not see on opening night come the beginning of the 2026–27 season.

Calle Jarnkrok is on an expiring deal, and it seems as though he will not re-sign with the Leafs. Jarnkrok is shockingly the sixth-longest tenured Leaf on the team behind only Tavares, Nylander, Matthews, Rielly, and Robertson.

The Leafs may also move on from Nick Robertson, who is an RFA at year’s end. Robertson never really found his footing in Toronto, requesting a trade two seasons ago. Although he had a hot start to the season, he cooled off in the second half. Despite this, he will still likely get a raise on his current $1.825 million contract that the Leafs may not be willing to pay.

Other players the Leafs could move on from, though less likely, include Max Domi, Mattias Maccelli, Steven Lorentz, and Dakota Joshua. 

Buy low trade options

With the historically high free agent prices last season, the Leafs may be better off utilizing their cap space to acquire low-valued players who are primed for bounce-back seasons. Three players that I can see the Leafs potentially acquiring for cheap are Barrett Hayton, Nils Hoglander, and Dougie Hamilton. 

Dougie Hamilton

Dougie Hamilton was a top-pairing defenseman for New Jersey for many years, notching as many as 74 points in a season for the Devils three years ago. Recently, things have gone wrong for Dougie in New Jersey, as he was rumoured to be in a potential Quinn Hughes deal that fell through. This left the relationship between him and the team fractured, as he was asked to waive his partial NTC. Combine this with his down-season of 34 points and 70 games, and his expensive $9M cap hit, could the Leafs potentially pick him up for cheap?

Barrett Hayton

Barrett Hayton could be another potential buy-low candidate from the Mammoth, just as Mattias Maccelli was last summer. The former fifth overall pick hasn’t seen the levels of success that were initially predicted for him on draft day, but he has still had a formidable NHL career. He has faced injury problems throughout his career, but in the two seasons he played 82 games, he posted stat lines of 19 goals and 43 points and 20 goals and 46 points. He is in the midst of a down year, but could be a very interesting middle-six centre for the Leafs if they could pick him up for pennies on the dollar.

Nils Hoglander

Hoglander has seen a huge fall from grace since the 2023–24 season, when he scored 24 goals. He has just two goals and two assists in 32 games this season and is making $3M. Similar to the Dakota Joshua situation last year, he would be a cap dump for the Vancouver Canucks. The main difference would be that the Canucks would likely have to attach an asset to dump the contract. If the Leafs could get a mid-round draft pick for Hoglander, it would be worth it to see if he could revert to his 2023–24 form in the Leafs’ middle-six.

Free agency

In my opinion, free agency is not the way to go for the Leafs this offseason. Although Charlie Coyle and Darren Raddysh would fill some big holes in the Leafs’ lineup, their potential contracts may be too lucrative to justify picking them up. Some low-cost free agents the Leafs could sign are Victor Olofsson of the Calgary Flames, Nick Blankenburg of the Colorado Avalanche, or another reunion with former Leaf Luke Schenn.

The Potential Lineup

After going over all of these potential acquisitions and departures for the Leafs, here is my official way-too-early lineup prediction for the 2026-27 Toronto Maple Leafs:

Knies–Matthews–Cowan
Maccelli–Hayton–Nylander
Hoglander–Tavares–Olofsson
Quillan–Groulx–Robertson

Hamilton–Tanev
McCabe–Carlo
OEL–Blankenburg

Woll
Stolarz

This lineup offers a lot of upside and depth scoring while being noticeably younger and faster than this year’s squad. Combine this with a new coach and a potential top-five pick, and the Leafs could be in a decent spot headed into next season.