Maple Leafs Re-Sign Vinni Lettieri, Add Three Others

The Toronto Maple Leafs announced the signings of four players today: forwards Vinni Lettieri and Henrik Rybinski, defenseman Cole McWard, and netminder Samuel Hlavaj. The financial terms of the deals were not disclosed other than the fact that Lettieri and Hlavaj have signed one-way contracts, while Rybinski and McWard received two-way deals. We covered McWard’s signing as a report yesterday.

Of this batch of signings, the biggest name is Lettieri. The former AHL All-Star had a hugely successful first season in Toronto, potting 14 goals and 42 points in 55 regular-season games. He made his mark in the playoffs, posting 11 goals and 26 points in 23 postseason contests. His efforts helped the Marlies capture a Calder Cup championship, the first of his nearly 400-game AHL career.

Since his professional career began in full during the 2017-18 season, Lettieri has been valuable high-level organizational depth for five different NHL clubs. The speedy forward, who can play center or along the wing, has been a stellar AHL scorer throughout his professional career and has shown himself to be capable handling spot duty at the NHL level. While he’s usually skated in the NHL in a fourth-line capacity, he has managed to log 155 career NHL games.

With Toronto aggressively pursuing a return to the playoffs after enduring a nightmare 2025-26 season, re-signing Lettieri helps the club lock in a key depth piece in advance of an extremely important season.

To help bulk up the team’s depth in the crease, the Maple Leafs have added Hlavaj, a 25-year-old goalie who was non-tendered by the Minnesota Wild. The undrafted Slovak import played two seasons in a tandem role in the Wild organization, spending most of his time at the AHL level with the Iowa Wild. Across 58 career AHL games played, Hlavaj has a 21-25-9 record, 3.02 goals against average, and .897 save percentage.

Hlavaj is likely best known around the hockey world not for his contributions at the club level, but rather for being the No. 1 goalie for Slovakia’s senior men’s team. Hlavaj first took up the role in 2023-24, going 3-2 with a .925 save percentage in five games during the 2024 IIHF Men’s World Championships. He resumed his role in Olympic qualifying the next season, going 3-0 with a .929 save percentage. He followed that up with a .912 save percentage at Worlds in 2025.

While he has been strong at the World Championships, Hlavaj’s best performances were arguably at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano-Cortina. Hlavaj saved 39 of 40 shots in Slovakia’s upset over Finland at the start of the tournament, made 46 saves in a loss against Sweden, and saved 25 of 27 shots in the team’s win over Germany.

While the Slovaks lost to the United States and Finland in the knockout rounds to exit without a medal, Hlavaj’s performances allowed him to make a name for himself in international hockey. He’ll hope to carry over some of that momentum to the club level.

Of the three signings that had not been previously reported, the name likely least recognizable to hockey fans is that of Rybinski. That’s not to say the 25-year-old winger has not had a solid career thus far, as he has developed into a capable middle-six scorer at the AHL level.

Rybinski has hit at least 30 points in each of the last two seasons, and posted a career-high 35 points in 2024-25. The former Seattle Thunderbirds star has played exclusively with the Hershey Bears thus far and won a Calder Cup with the club in 2024.