The Toronto Maple Leafs, like most of the NHL, will be facing a difficult path over the next month, playing games every other night starting with their rematch with the Florida Panthers on Tuesday. The Leafs will be playing 16 times between now and the Olympic break in early February, with games every night except for two instances of back-to-back games.
Tonight is a return to the scene of the crime for the Panthers, where they pulverized Toronto in Games 5 and 7 of the second-round series on their way to their second straight Stanley Cup. Both clubs are not the same, however. Florida is without their two best forwards in Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk, along with defensemen Dmitri Kulikov and Seth Jones, but short-handed, they have managed a 22-16-3 record (47 points), two points ahead of the Leafs in the tight Eastern Conference standings.
Toronto is still without leading scorer William Nylander (missing his fifth game after suffering a lower-body injury on December 27th vs. Ottawa) and winger Dakota Joshua, but continues to be most vulnerable on the blueline. The club got some bad news on defenseman Chris Tanev, who is awaiting word from doctors on whether his groin injury will require surgery, but some good news regarding Jake McCabe. McCabe left the 4-3 overtime loss to the NY Islanders on Saturday with a lower-body injury, but head coach Craig Berube indicated on Monday that the veteran blueliner will be out a week.
McCabe has been the club’s most valuable shutdown defender, leading the team in ice time (22:01) and plus/minus (+26). It was feared that McCabe would be out longer, which could have been a fatal blow with the loss of Tanev. The other good news is the return of veteran Brandon Carlo, who has been out since November 13th after a blocked shot caused an infection in his ankle, and irritation of a plate in his foot from a previous injury. Carlo will be resuming his normal spot on the right side with Morgan Rielly, which is much needed, after Rielly’s -4 performance against the Isles.
Based on the combinations used at practice on Monday, Troy Stecher will be paired with Oliver Ekman-Larsson, and Philippe Myers will draw in on the bottom pairing with Simon Benoit, with no changes in goal or any of the forward combinations.
The issue with the Leafs is that the injuries to both Tanev and Joshua (reportedly a lacerated kidney) are not expected to be season-ending. With the new rules regarding long-term injured reserve, Toronto would not be able to clear Joshua’s $3.25 million cap hit or Tanev’s $4.5 million cap hit unless they were designated as being on season-ending LTIR with no ability to come back for the playoffs. This could prevent GM Brad Treliving from being able to have enough room to acquire reinforcements before the trade deadline, unless it was a money-in, money-out deal that he reportedly is interested in making.
The issue, more than anything, is whether the Leafs have the assets to make a deal to acquire help before March 6th, or the deadline prior to the Olympic break. The next 16 games will determine their posture. If Toronto falls back in the playoff race, despite what Treliving has said about trying to add, the Leafs may have to change on the fly and deal players with expiring contracts like Scott Laughton or Bobby McMann, who could recoup some draft capital.
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS (19-15-7 – 45 POINTS)
vs.
FLORIDA PANTHERS (22-16-3 – 47 POINTS)
JANUARY 6, 2026 ▪ 7:30 PM EST ▪ SCOTIABANK ARENA (TORONTO, ON)
TV: SPORTSNET ONTARIO ▪ RADIO: TSN 1050
MAPLE LEAFS HISTORY vs. FLORIDA PANTHERS
| All-Time Record: | 52-40-7-8 (107 Games) |
| All-Time Home Record: | 30-17-2-2 (51 Games) |
| 2024-25: | 1-3-0 |
| Last Five: | 2-3-0 |
| Last 10: | 5-5-0 |
| First Matchup Between Clubs: | October 21, 1993 (Toronto 4 at Florida 3 – OTW) |
| All-Time Record: | 52-40-7-8 (107 Games) |
| All-Time Home Record: | 30-17-2-2 (51 Games) |
| All-Time Road Record: | 22-23-5-6 (56 Games) |
| Last Home Win vs. Opponent: | April 2, 2025 (Toronto 3 vs. Florida 2) |
MAPLE LEAFS / PANTHERS – 2025-26 TEAM STATS
| TORONTO | FLORIDA | |
| Goals For Per Game: | 3.34 (4th) | 3.10 (14th) |
| Goals Against Per Game: | 3.34 (27th) | 3.15 (19th-T) |
| Power Play %: | 16.7 (24th) | 18.2 (21st) |
| Penalty Kill %: | 83.7 (4th) | 82.3 (6th) |
| Shots For Per Game: | 27.1 (21st-T) | 29.3 (7th-T) |
| Shots Against Per Game: | 31.3 (32nd) | 26.6 (6th-T) |
| Faceoff %: | 56.3 (1st) | 47.2 (26th-T) |
| v | ||
