The Toronto Maple Leafs 2025-26 season has been in tatters for a while, but after their pathetic performance in a 5-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night, the club may have moved from a limited seller of their expiring contracts to contemplating more impactful moves before the NHL trade deadline at 3 pm Friday.
Head coach Craig Berube clearly has run out of answers, as after the loss he questioned the club’s competitiveness, but it is clear with back-to-back poor efforts against Florida and the Senators, that the Leafs have tuned out the coach’s message. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman in his Saturday Headlines segment on Hockey Night in Canada, altered his message earlier in the week that the club was considering moves involving pending free agents Bobby McMann and Scott Laughton, and veteran defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson, but that based on the state of the club, that GM Brad Treliving might consider making other moves outside of that trio.
Friedman said on the TNT intermission broadcast on the weekend that the Edmonton Oilers are interested in Ekman-Larsson, but that the veteran blueliner has control over whether he is willing to go to the Oilers and would need to be convinced by them to go there. There is no indication of what the Leafs would get in return for the 34-year-old, but dealing a blueliner having the type of year he is having, the return would have to include a first-round pick.
Friedman also reported on the 32 Thoughts podcast on Monday that the feeling out there is that the Leafs could do something this week that surprises people, which could mean dealing a veteran with term, but that would not include Auston Matthews, William Nylander, John Tavares, or Matthew Knies. Morgan Rielly’s name was mentioned, but the defenseman has control over his situation because of a no-movement clause, and as has been said many times this season, it is likely that nothing will change with that until the offseason, and maybe won’t change even then.
He, along with TSN’s Darren Dreger, indicated that Toronto may have wanted to get into the Robert Thomas sweepstakes, with the intention of flipping some of the assets acquired at the deadline to obtain the Aurora, ON native, but interest in the St. Louis Blues center is expected to be costly and brisk. Dreger indicated that the conversation cooled over the weekend when the Blues brought up Knies.
The Leafs take on the Philadelphia Flyers at Scotiabank Arena. Anthony Stolarz gets the start for Toronto and will face Daniel Vladar between the pipes for the Flyers.
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS (27-24-9 – 63 POINTS) vs. PHILADELPHIA FLYERS (27-21-11 – 65 POINTS)
MARCH 2, 2026 ▪ 7:30 PM EST ▪ SCOTIABANK ARENA (TORONTO, ON)
TV: PRIME VIDEO ▪ RADIO: SPORTSNET 590
MAPLE LEAFS HISTORY vs. PHILADELPHIA FLYERS
| All-Time Record: | 77-94-22-7 (200 Games) |
| All-Time Home Record: | 43-38-14-4 (99 Games) |
| 2024-25: | 3-0-0 |
| Last Five: | 5-0-0 |
| Last 10: | 9-1-0 |
| First Matchup Between Clubs: | January 24, 1968 (Toronto 1 vs. Philadelphia 2) |
| All-Time Record: | 77-94-22-7 (200 Games) |
| All-Time Home Record: | 43-38-14-4 (99 Games) |
| All-Time Road Record: | 34-56-8-3 (101 Games) |
| Last Home Win vs. Opponent: | March 25, 2025 (Toronto 7 vs. Philadelphia 2) |
MAPLE LEAFS / FLYERS – 2025-26 TEAM STATS
| TORONTO | PHILADELPHIA | |
| Goals For Per Game: | 3.20 (14th) | 2.86 (23rd) |
| Goals Against Per Game: | 3.45 (29th) | 3.10 (18th) |
| Power Play %: | 19.3 (21st) | 15.9 (28th-T) |
| Penalty Kill %: | 83.4 (4th) | 79.9 (13th) |
| Shots For Per Game: | 27.4 (20th-T) | 25.4 (28th-T) |
| Shots Against Per Game: | 31.9 (32nd) | 25.7 (4th) |
| Faceoff %: | 55.9 (1st) | 48.9 (22nd) |
| (NHL rank in parenthesis) | ||
