The Toronto Maple Leafs 2025/2026 Season Prediction Thread.

The best offseason move was and why?

– Knies extension. He’s going to have to step up big time. Joshua is a dark horse for top-six impact player.

The worst offseason move was and why?

– Letting Marner walk. Huge mistake. So was bringing back Tavares.

This player is actually pretty good but everybody hates him.

– Marner. Because Leafs fans always need scapegoats.

This player is actually garbage but everybody thinks he’s good.

– Tavares. Because Leafs fans want pajamas more than a Cup.

If I was GM, this is what I would have done.

– Retain Marner. Let go of Tavares. Trade Rielly. Get tougher depth.

Knies | Matthews | Marner
Joshua | Jenner | Nylander
McMann | McLeod | Domi
Formenton | Laughton | Lorentz

OEL | Tanev
McCabe | Carlo
Benoit | T. Myers

Foote

Woll | Stolarz

—————————————–Player Stat Predictions———————————

———————Forwards——————

Sammy Blais – 22 games, 1 goal, 2 assists, 3 points

Easton Cowan – 9 games, 2 goals, 3 assists, 5 points

Max Domi – 75 games, 11 goals, 40 assists, 51 points

Calle Jarnkrok – 60 games, 8 goals, 12 assists, 20 points

Dakota Joshua – 71 games, 11 goals, 11 assists, 22 points

David Kampf – 25 games, 2 goals, 3 assists, 5 points

Matthew Knies – 77 games, 31 goals, 33 assists, 64 points

Scott Laughton – 65 games, 6 goals, 16 assists, 22 points

Steven Lorentz – 80 games, 5 goals, 8 assists, 13 points

Matias Maccelli – 70 games, 10 goals, 32 assists, 42 points

Auston Matthews – 72 games, 51 goals, 52 assists, 101 points

Bobby McMann – 65 games, 15 goals, 13 assists, 28 points

William Nylander – 80 games, 38 goals, 47 assists, 85 points

Michael “The Punching Bag Pylon” Pezzetta – 20 games, 1 goal, 2 assists, 3 points

John Tavares – 74 games, 30 goals, 34 assists, 66 points

Nicholas Robertson – 60 games, 10 goals, 8 assists, 18 points

Nicolas Roy – 72 games, 10 goals, 19 assists, 29 points

Alex Nylander – 7 games, 1 goals, 3 assists, 4 points

———————Defense——————

Simon Benoit – 65 games, 1 goals, 8 assists, 9 points

Brandon Carlo – 80 games, 2 goals, 12 assists, 14 points

Oliver Ekman-Larsson – 76 games, 4 goals, 32 assists, 36 points

Jake McCabe – 65 games, 3 goals, 18 assists, 21 points

Philippe Myers – 22 games, 0 goals, 3 assists, 3 points

Morgan Rielly – 76 games, 6 goals, 35 assists, 41 points

Christopher Tanev – 70 games, 2 goals, 14 assists, 16 points

Matthew Benning – 35 games, 1 goals, 2 assists, 2 points

Dakota Mermis – AHL

Henry Thrun – AHL

———————Goalies——————

Dennis Hildeby – 7 games, 3 W, 3 L, 1 OTL, 3.50 GAA, .903 SV%

Anthony Stolarz – 36 games, 22 W, 10 L, 4 OTL, 2.75 GAA, .917 SV%

Joseph Woll – 32 games, 21 W, 9 L, 2 OTL, 2.75 GAA, .917 SV%

James Reimer – 7 games, 3 W, 3 L, 1 OTL, 3.50 GAA, .902 SV%

Artur Akhtyamov – AHL

Vyacheslav Peksa – AHL

——————————————-Team Predictions—————————————

The top 3 in the Atlantic Division will be – TBL, FLA, TOR

The top 3 in the Metro Division will be – NJD, NYR, CAR

The Eastern Wild card teams will be – WSH, MTL

The top 3 in the Central Division will be – DAL, COL, WIN

The top 3 in the Pacific Division will be – VGK, EDM, LAK

The Western Wild card teams will be – STL, UTA

The team with the best offseason was – VGK

The team with the worst offseason was – PIT

The best team in the NHL will be – DAL

The worst team in the NHL will be – SJS

The most improved team in the NHL will be – NYR

The biggest disappointment team in the NHL will be – WSH

The team to win the East will be – FLA

The team to win the West will be – VGK

———————————–Major Award Predictions————————————

The Art Ross winner will be – McJesus

The Norris Trophy winner will be – Makar

The Richard Trophy winner will be – McJesus

The Lester B. Pearson winner will be – McJesus

The Selke winner will be – Cirelli

The Vezina winner will be – Vasilevskiy

The Calder Trophy winner will be – Demidov

————————————–Playoff Predictions———————————–

The Stanley Cup winner will be – FLA

The Conn Smythe winner will be – Tkachuk

If you remember nothing else I said, remember this.

Leafs won’t do jack shit in the playoffs.

Florida will have the exact same team that beat the Leafs last year all over again. Their only hope is if Bob falls off a cliff due to injury or old age. Tampa Bay has multiple MVP level players who can easily knock out the Leafs or a tired / injured Panthers team. Hedman, Vasilevskiy and Kucherov are not finished yet. And they know how to win. The division is top heavy and dangerous. The Leafs lost an elite two-way, 100 point player and replaced him with spare parts and 3rd liners. People believing that is an improvement are coping. Stolarz and Woll are still risks to being injured / not playing. Case in point, Woll is starting the season on the sidelines. If the Leafs goaltending isn’t what it was last year (it won’t be) their D will be exposed as old, slow and ineffective, especially on the right side as the Leafs still only have TWO RHD which has been a problem for 10 years.

senstrolltwo wrote:

Unholy_Goalie wrote:

The best offseason move was and why?

John Tavares – 74 games, 30 goals, 34 assists, 36 points
years.

math doesnt math here. but 64 points for 4 mil is a great deal.

I also like that you have 279 total goals, which is 11 more than they scored last season.

Not math, just a typo. Fixed it. 279 too many goals for this team, fixed that too.

4 million to do fuck all in the playoffs like he did vs. Florida and be a giant defensive liability.

Atomic Wedgie wrote:

Jesus, have I been Uggie the whole time?!?!?

Obviously.

senstrolltwo wrote:

ha you had to go remove a bunch of goals so you didnt look too positive. what a loser lol

You made a good point. I’m always reconsidering and refining the numbers. It’s not about being “too positive” and more about being as realistic and accurate as possible.

Make your own predictions instead about bitching about mine.

Let me guess for you. 350 goals for, 100 against, 82-0, 16 straight playoff wins, 5 straight Cups.

The Leafs PP is going to be a big, big problem this season. And having Stolarz without Woll could prove to be a big problem. Stolarz with a career high of 34 starts is going to require the Leafs have some serious trouble in net.

WHIPPER wrote:

Unholy_Goalie wrote:

4 million to do fuck all in the playoffs like he did vs. Florida and be a giant defensive liability.

Wait, so paying Tavares $4M to do fuck all in the playoffs is a huge failure.

But you wanted to pay Marner $13M to do fuck all in the playoffs?!?!?

Marner was part of 3 GWG vs. Florida.

Marner was also not on the ice for as many goals against as Tavares so not only was Tavares shit offensively, his defense cost them dearly, moreso than any other forward. Nor did Tavares kill penalties or shutdown the top line.

Check your ass because your head is stuck up there.

Dozzer wrote:

WHIPPER wrote:

Wait, so paying Tavares $4M to do fuck all in the playoffs is a huge failure.

But you wanted to pay Marner $13M to do fuck all in the playoffs?!?!?

He only hit the post and got 2 assists last night. His stick and intelligence still work just fine, he’s a vet and doesn’t skate the same as he once did and people are supposed to be surprised by this? A $4 mill 2nd line C who is damn near a PPG guy who still is a true leader for a team is a steal, like him or not.

A leader of what? Stripped of the C and constant playoff failure. Less career playoff points than any other core player and giant defensive liability.

Dozzer wrote:

Unholy_Goalie wrote:

A leader of what? Stripped of the C and constant playoff failure. Less career playoff points than any other core player and giant defensive liability.

Stop it UG, he wasn’t stripped he gave it up. And what do you think his $4 mill gets the leafs instead?

He was stripped of the captaincy. Spin it however you want but if they actually had playoff success, he’d still be the captain. They made that switch because they kept losing year after year and instead of trading somebody, they had to try and generate some feeling of “change”. And it didn’t work because the results are basically the same. Just like this team turned to career losers like Spezza, Marleau and Thornton in the past, they continue to do it with Tavares.

The “value” of 4 million for regular season stats and playoff disappearing act doesn’t help this team achieve it’s goal of a Stanley Cup. The illusion of value doesn’t help this team when it matters the most. It’s not like the type of value McDavid brings to his team for a discount. It’s just another over the hill, over rated, under performing Toronto boy riding out the rest of his career as a loser on the team he grew up cheering for. He’s a great person, of that I have no doubt, but he’s not a winner and he hurts the team in the playoffs more than he helps them. He’s a passenger.

That 4 million, plus the money wasted on Rielly, should have gone towards retaining Marner and making this team more suited for the playoffs. Tavares is not good for the playoffs. End of discussion.

Dozzer wrote:

Once again UG I’ll go with what the team says not you as truth and they say he stepped down.

Once again, you’re naïve. The organization doesn’t give a flying fuck about telling you the truth. They’re in the PR business which means lying to gullible fans who believe anything they are told. Like you. If Tavares was a successful captain, they would have never dreamed of having him “step down”. If the Leafs had playoff success, he would still be captain today. But they didn’t. So they needed to create a fake narrative of “change” without actually trading anybody or holding anybody accountable. They stripped him of the C no matter what kind of bullshit story you want to give yourself. The entire pageantry of having him pass the C to Matthews was just another pajama boy story they could sell.

As for Rielly your hatred is being based from one super bad season so drop it please.

0 for 2. Rielly has sucked the bag defensively since his first season. The only thing that has made his defensive nightmare tolerable has been his offensive game. Unfortunately for us, his offensive game has fallen off a cliff since his 65-70 point, big contract season. Year after year of 40-50 point seasons for 7.5 AAV and horrid defense is not “just one bad year”. He had puck luck in the playoffs against Ottawa but against Florida he was exposed as a total failure of a top pair D, having been on the ice for most goals against other than Tavares.

And I’ll say this one last time. Berube adjusted his coaching because Marner was on the team but Marner is NOT one of his types of players. Unless you’re fast as hell you better be physical as hell to play under Berube’s PREFERRED type of game. Of course Berube used Marner last year, what coach wouldn’t? But they weren’t going to fork out what they would have to pay him to give him a $7.5 mill take home.

Wrong again. Berube did not adjust anything for Marner. Marner was given the most ice time among forwards because he was defensively trusted. So much so, he was out against Florida’s top line the entire playoff series. Even helped contribute to 3 GWGs. He killed penalties. He was on the top PP. He was on the top line. He had as many hits as Knies and way more than Tavares or Nylander. Your theory makes zero sense because Nylander is still on the team and he’s the opposite of what Berube wants or likes from his players.

Now stop your obsession, he’s no longer a leaf UG, not will he ever be again, the end. The people running this team now want bigger and tougher types. If you don’t like it boo hoo but stop whining about it, you literally coming across like a whiny ass childish Marner.

He’s no longer a Leaf because this organization is run and supported by retards. They got bigger players and the team still got worse.

I won’t lie about this, I’m a long time musician, a bassist tbh, and I’ve come across singers and lead guitarists in other bands who’ve acted like Marner many many many times in my life. Most musicians hate them, the bars hate them, the sound guys hate them, etc. More than a few times I’ve punched those dipshits in the back of the head backstage and told them unless they wanted to hit the stage with a black eye to shut the fuck up and trust me, I’m not the only musician that has done shit like that. Get rid of dipshits like that, I don’t care how talented they are, they sour things, badly. 1 selfish jackass can make a couple dozen people who normally have a great time pissed right off and annoyed and that’s Marner in hockey. So I’m glad that little whiny ass bitch is fine, REALLY happy, cause I can tell what he is, it’s called a DOUCHE.

Sorry but being a dive bar bassist playing for beer has nothing to do with playing NHL hockey. Marner made everybody around him better, including Matthews, the PP etc. You buy this bullshit narrative because you’re coping that your team got worse and will continue to get worse until they’re in a full blown lottery rebuild in a couple years. You might feel proud of yourself that you sucker punched some guy in the back of the head but it makes you exactly what you’re accusing others of being; a total douche.

Bump.