Toronto Maple Leafs: Evaluating fourth line options for next season

There is a lot of uncertainty surrounding the Toronto Maple Leafs going into next season. How are the Leafs going to build on the identity they started building for themselves last season? Or how will it go without the entire core four, with Mitch Marner playing for the Vegas Golden Knights?

The Leafs still have a somewhat incomplete team. Having said that, I believe that the roster as it is would be able to compete and more than likely make the playoffs. However, the Leafs still need a top-six forward. Unless, of course, they slide somebody in who they already have on the roster.

Fans always love to speculate about how the lineup will look on opening night—things like who’s in, who’s out and some possible line combinations. Everyone has an opinion on how their favourite team’s lineup should look. I’d like to focus more on what the fourth line may look like because the bottom-six forwards tend to be overlooked.

Best options

I think the fourth line should be the same as it was in the playoffs. If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. At times during the playoffs, the line of Scott Laughton, Steven Lorentz, and Calle Jarnkrok was the Leafs most consistent line. Even though they didn’t do a ton of damage on the scoresheet, they played very well together through the entire run.

Those three complemented Craig Berube’s coaching style extremely well throughout the playoffs and were trusted more than a typical fourth line usually is. In past years, the Leafs haven’t had as much forward depth. They have been extremely top-heavy and relied more so on offence to win games.

Under Craig Berube, they seemed like a more well-rounded team. Without Marner this season everybody is going to have to adapt their role, and take on more accountability. If Jarnkrok, Laughton, and Lorentz show shades of what we saw from them during the playoffs, I think it would be a smart move to have the three of them play together for the majority of the season.

Scott Laughton

Scott Laughton was acquired from the Philadelphia Flyers at the trade deadline last season for forward prospect Nikita Grebenkin and a conditional first-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft.

Laughton was non-existent when he first got to Toronto, putting up only four points in the final 20 games of the regular season. However, his play elevated towards the end of the season. In the final regular season game against the Detroit Red Wings, Laughton scored the overtime winner in a 4–3 win, which likely gave him the confidence boost he needed going into the playoffs. After his performance in the playoffs, Leafs fans are hopeful Laughton will build off that and be even better this season.

It’s very possible that Laughton slides into the top-nine, or even top-six. Especially if the Leafs are not able to move Jarnkrok or David Kampf, Berube really liked the way Laughton was playing in the playoffs, and he may reward him with more playing time.

Calle Jarnkrok

Even though Jarnkrok’s name has been thrown around in trade rumours, along with some of the other depth pieces, after only playing 19 games for the Leafs last season, the Leafs will be looking for a bounce-back performance from Jarnkrok in 2025–26.

Due to his history with injuries, he may not be the kind of guy who gets promoted as Laughton might. However, that also means that the Leafs may be less likely to trade him. Jarkrok’s contract expires following this season.

Jarnkrok only had one point in 12 games throughout the playoffs. However, the fourth line was not relied upon to provide offence. Their main objective was to grind you down while Matthews and Marner rested. Jarnkrok helped provide exactly that.

Steven Lorentz

Lorentz signed a three-year contract extension with the Leafs in June worth $1.35M per year—precisely the same amount as Bobby McMann, a guy who scored 20 goals last season.

Lorentz is probably a fourth liner going into next season. Ideally, he’d be able to get you some third-line minutes. In all honesty, throughout the playoffs, the Laughton, Jarnkrok, and Lorentz line was labelled as the fourth line, but in reality, they were really the third line.

Lorentz is a very responsible defensive player who will also forecheck like a madman. Also, we saw when he signed that he wanted to be in Toronto, so that shows you how much passion Lorentz will play with.

It could be David Kampf or Nick Robertson who ends up on the fourth line. However, I think the Laughton, Jarnkrok, and Lorentz line earned themselves another chance to play together in the playoffs alone. Sure, they weren’t as good against Florida, but some lines were worse. I’d love to see the Leafs “fourth line” back together this season.