Watching the Toronto Maple Leafs come back from 3–0 down to beat the Nashville Predators 5–4 in overtime got me thinking about something that really had very little to do with that game.
The Toronto Maple Leafs face their toughest test of the season Thursday, taking on the defending Western Conference champion Vegas Golden Knights on the road to begin a three-game trip. Thursday is a crucial opportunity to get the Leafs on the right track and build off their stellar comeback win over the Nashville Predators on Tuesday.
The Toronto Maple Leafs may seem loaded up front currently, especially in the wake of the Kirill Marchenko blockbuster, but that shouldn’t preclude them from looking to make further additions.
Ben Danford’s first full season of professional hockey was never going to be about rushing him to the Toronto Maple Leafs. In fact, the way his last season unfolded may have given the Maple Leafs something even more valuable than a quick promotion.
Nick Blankenburg signed a one-year contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs just before the season started after inking a professional tryout with them not long before that.
The NHL has had an interesting new millennium. It was a league sans a salary cap when the 2000s started… and then the owners locked the players out for an entire season.
Following their very disappointing 2025-26 season, the Toronto Maple Leafs added several new players to their roster during the offseason. It is not too difficult to understand why the Maple Leafs added several players during the summer.
The Toronto Maple Leafs stepped back in time with their thrilling 5-4 overtime win over the Nashville Predators to end their four-game homestand. The firewagon hockey on display resembled the earlier years of the Auston Matthews-William Nylander era, when the Leafs often relied on outscoring their opponents.
Something Marshall Rifai said about Ben Danford in a recent article struck me. He didn't talk about points. He didn't talk about offensive upside. He didn't talk about how quickly Danford might make the Maple Leafs.
After splitting four home games to begin the season, the Toronto Maple Leafs start a three-game western road trip when they face the Golden Knights on Thursday in Las Vegas.
After four hard-fought, closely contested games this season, the alarm bells remain quiet, and the streets are devoid of fans cursing the gods with shaken fists and pleading faces.
People will talk about the “Mount Rushmore” for a franchise, which is to say the four people, usually four players, that most define the franchise. Not always the four-best players, but the four that evoke the essence of the franchise.
The Toronto Marlies opened their home schedule with a 5-3 win over the Hamilton Hammers, and Maple Leafs fans had plenty of reasons to pay attention. Brendan Brisson scored twice.
It’s easy to fall into a trap when a young, talented player might be available: start building the trade package before asking whether the player actually makes sense for your team.
Jim Hiller might be facing a tough decision with the Toronto Maple Leafs' lineup, but that is nothing compared to what he could've been facing on Wednesday morning if his team hadn't rallied from down 3-0 to defeat the Nashville Predators.
So Gavin McKenna finally got his first NHL goal, and naturally, everyone’s already trying to figure out what it means for his career. Here’s the fun part: it actually tells us almost nothing.
Gavin McKenna‘s wait for his first NHL point lasted three games. On Tuesday night, he got two points in one game, and he had a joke ready about who wasn’t there to see it.
The Toronto Maple Leafs had quite a night against Nashville. They fell behind 3-0, came back, and eventually won 5-4 in overtime. That’s the sort of game that can leave a coach with plenty to talk about.
It was a night to remember for Toronto Maple Leafs rookie forward Gavin McKenna on Tuesday. The No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 draft lit the lamp for the first time in his NHL career in the second period of Toronto’s game against the visiting Nashville Predators at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
A new season, a somewhat new roster, a new head coach, a new-old assistant coach, a new team in the division. Change is a constant each in the AHL each season, but there was something new from the start of the game.
Toronto Maple Leafs forward Gavin McKenna heard all the detractors. He even called his “Welcome to the NHL” moment hearing from the media that he hadn’t registered a point through three games.
Gavin McKenna was glowing in his postgame scrum following the Toronto Maple Leafs‘ 5-4 comeback win over the Nashville Predators. And he had all the reason to be – he scored his first NHL goal and added an assist in a game where his team rallied back and won a thriller in overtime.
Through the first few games of the 2026-27 NHL season, the Toronto Maple Leafs have seen some good in their top line and some lack of production from their second unit – leading to questions around the make-up of the roster to start the season.
John Chayka has not been shy about making big moves since taking over as GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs this offseason, which has included moving on from several mainstays of the organization in recent years.