The Toronto Maple Leafs return to action on Wednesday against the Washington Capitals at Scotiabank Arena, in the first of back-to-back games. The club will start Anthony Stolarz in goal against the Caps, with Joseph Woll likely get the start against the New York Islanders at UBS Arena on Thursday with new head coach Peter DeBoer’s debut.
The club has continued to make head-scratching decisions with their roster after the trade deadline, refusing to give some young players who have had success with the AHL Marlies a chance to play. On the weekend, after blueliner Oliver Ekman-Larsson was injured in San Jose, the Leafs recalled defenseman William Villeneuve. After flying cross-country, head coach Craig Berube opted to play veteran Troy Stecher in place of OEL.
On Tuesday, Toronto called up forward Luke Haymes from the Marlies on an emergency basis. The 22-year-old has 17 goals in 63 AHL games, but on Wednesday, both players were demoted back to the Marlies. On top of the puzzling approach of playing a career minor leaguer in Benoit-Olivier Groulx in a top-nine role, Berube has continued to use young center Jacob Quillan (who averages just under 10 minutes a night) for a quarter of the regular season instead of finding out what the 24-year-old can do in expanded minutes.
Berube does not seem to care about finding out what younger players can do, because he is likely not going to be around to coach them, but that fact is one reason why he should have been fired earlier in the season. This mentality may have given GM Brad Treliving the excuse to trade youngsters like Fraser Minten and Nikita Grebenkin at the deadline, and contributed to the decisions to walk away from useful forwards like Pontus Holmberg and Alex Steeves.
When playoff chances have been eliminated, there is an opportunity to give players a chance to see what they are made of. Because the Leafs did not do that, they have less of an idea with Quillan, Haymes, or Vileneuve can be NHLers or not.
Once again, the out-of-town scoreboard was a mixed bag for the Leafs hopes of finishing in the top five, as the Seattle Kraken exhausted another of their games in hand in a 5-2 to Minnesota. St. Louis remains tied with Toronto at 78 points after a 3-1 loss to Colorado, and Florida earned a loser point after blowing a 3-2 lead late in regulation in Montreal, eventually losing 4-3 in a shootout to the Habs.
Toronto remains in the seventh draft slot, tied with Florida, and would move into the sixth slot with a regulation loss to Washington, but with just over a week left in the regular season, the Leafs probably would have to lose their final five games to have either the Kraken and NY Rangers close the three-point gap to get into the top five.
In other news, defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson has been named the Leafs nominee for the 2026 Bill Masterton Trophy. Each NHL club’s chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers Association nominates a player that “best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey”. That group is narrowed down to three finalists, with the winner being announced during the postseason.
Ekman-Larsson has been the steadiest defenseman on the Leafs during a disastrous season, posting 36 points (8 goals, 28 assists) his best statistical season since 2018-19.
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