With the Carolina Hurricanes being crowned as the 2025–26 Stanley Cup champions, it is now time for the hockey world to turn its attention to the 2026 NHL draft, free agency and the 2026–27 NHL season. And with a lacklustre season in the rear-view mirror, along with several personnel changes and rumours to boot, Toronto Maple Leafs fans in particular will be watching in anticipation to see what their favourite team looks like when they take the ice next season.
We’ve discussed, at length, rumours and opinions surrounding the future of Leafs star forwards like Auston Matthews, William Nylander and Matthew Knies, but today, we turn our attention to the team’s defence corps. While most of the trade buzz on the back end has been narrowed onto Leafs lifer Morgan Rielly, there is a very good chance that the defensive group for the Leafs next season could look very different from the one we saw end the last—and we’ve already seen a trade for Emil Andrae.
With this in mind, we will be laying out our projections for the Leafs defensive pairings for the opening of the 2026–27 regular season. These pairings will not be limited to just current Leafs either, so keep an eye out for some names who we believe could wind up on the Leafs’ D-lines via free agency or trade this offseason.
Let’s get started.
First pair: Chris Tanev and Darren Raddysh
While the left slot on the Leafs’ top pair has been mostly reserved for either Morgan Rielly or Jake McCabe in previous seasons, we believe that if the Leafs are able to sign Toronto-born Darren Raddysh in free agency, he will instantly slot in on the top pair, and that shouldn’t come as a surprise. Raddysh, a decent offensive defenceman in previous years, took his game to a new level last season, putting up 22 goals and 70 points in 73 games, with an elite plus-21 plus-minus rating to boot. Keep in mind as well, Raddysh did all of this while averaging the highest playing time among his teammates.
Next to Raddysh on the top pair is Chris Tanev. While Tanev saw very limited play last season due to injury, he has shown previously that while he doesn’t light up the score sheet, he is one of the toughest and grittiest defenders in the modern NHL. In the 2024–25 regular season, Tanev blocked 189 shots in 75 games, the sixth highest total in the league, and in that season’s playoffs, he blocked another 38 shots in 13 games, the seventh highest total in that entire postseason. He has shown he can play on the left side before, and should be able to do it again.
If the Leafs wind up landing Raddysh, pairing him with Tanev would give them one of the best top defensive pairings in the entire league.
Second pair: Jake McCabe and Simon Nemec
As you can probably tell by now, Morgan Rielly is not listed on either of our top-two lines, and that is because we are going off the basis that Rielly very well could be traded this offseason. Rielly aside, our projected second line does have a new and potentially unexpected face, that being 22-year-old New Jersey Devils D-man Simon Nemec.
Nemec is an RFA with the Devils, and while there were initially rumours that he requested a trade out of New Jersey, those rumours have since been debunked by Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos. However, just because he didn’t request a trade doesn’t mean he won’t be traded or signed by another team, and his overall fit with the Leafs, especially if they opt for more of a rebuild, would be stellar. Nemec hasn’t taken a massive leap by any means yet, but he has shown flashes of elite play, and he put up a decent 26 points in 68 games last season.
Alongside Nemec, we’ve got Jake McCabe, who, had it not been for our prediction of a Raddysh signing, would have been right next to Tanev on the top pair. The 32-year-old McCabe is a fan favourite in Toronto, and for good reason. Like Tanev, McCabe is by no means an offensive weapon, but his impact is seen through his grit and smart play. Just this past season, McCabe led the league in blocked shots with 190 blocks in 80 games, and he has shown a positive impact in all of his three-and-a-half seasons with the Leafs, never once having a negative plus-minus rating.
Learning from a consistently solid player like McCabe could just be the kick that Nemec needs to take that next step in his career, that is, if he winds up in Toronto.
Third pair: Emil Andrae and Oliver Ekman-Larsson
The third pair will be fantastic in sheltered minutes, and will include two of the Leafs best puck-movers: newly acquired Emil Andrae on the left, and OEL on the right.
Ekman-Larsson is indeed getting up there in age, and depending on how next season goes, we could potentially see the Leafs make a move with him included at the deadline. But don’t count out Ekman-Larsson; the 34-year-old Swedish defenceman has had an impressive 16-year career to this point, and he brings a championship mentality as well after winning the 2023–24 Cup with the Florida Panthers. He isn’t the top-line defender he was in his prime, but he can still put up nearly 40 points a season when things are clicking.
Beside Ekman-Larsson, we are going with Emil Andrae, the newly acquired 5’9 defenceman from Sweden. Andrae brings unique skill to the Leafs (actually being able to make a breakout pass) and should get playing time over Brandon Carlo, even if he isn’t moved. Carlo had a rough season last year, and injecting puck-moving and youth into the backend is necessary.
This third pair isn’t going to jump off the page or stir up the rumour pot at all, but in the grand scheme of things, it is solid.
