Maple Leafs Facing Major Competition for Top Free Agency Target

While the free agent period slows down after the biggest names have signed with either new clubs, or re-upped with their old ones, there are still some names available on the market who are very solid role players that can bring a lot of success to teams.

Players like Jeff Skinner, Victor Olofsson, Robby Fabbri and Jakub Vrana could all bring some secondary offense to a contender, and at a reasonable cost too. Teams like the Maple Leafs should be looking at players like this to fill out their bottom-six, and give them a chance to move out the old and bring in a new crop of faces.

But one name who is still on the market who might add the biggest punch of all is Jack Roslovic, a player the Maple Leafs have on their radar and who has some history with their captain.

He would make a perfect addition to the team at a low-cost, and provide a younger and more reliable offensive option than names like Calle Jarnkrok. But according to NHL Insider Chris Johnston, they aren't the only ones checking in.

On his podcast The CJ Show, Johnston explained that the Colorado Avalanche are also bidders on Roslovic as they look to also shore up their forward group:

We previously touched on why Roslovic makes sense for the Maple Leafs, considering he played with Auston Matthews previously and had success, but does Toronto offer a better destination than Colorado?

It would be easy for Roslovic to pick the Maple Leafs given his history with Auston Matthews, but so too would it be to choose Colorado who employs both Jack Drury and Martin Necas; two of his most recent teammates.

But in Colorado he'll need to contend with Drury, Brock Nelson, Charlie Coyle, Ross Colton, and potentially names like Casey Mittelstadt and a little player named Nathan MacKinnon.

There's a logjam for the Avalanche and unless they are able to ship off Coyle and Colton; there's no real room for Roslovic. He could slide to the wing, but he's to good in the middle to warrant shifting at the bottom of the lineup.

Which is why Toronto should be so appealing, because they'll give him the chance to play with Auston Matthews, but barring a place in the top-six, he would be able to anchor the fourth line as Scott Laughton can move to the wing where he has a lot more experience than Roslovic.

Signing him for $2.5-million even for one season as a semi-audition is well worth the price, and with Toronto desperately needing more offense, they can breathe easy with Jack.

In 526 games, he's registered 260 points (104 goals, 156 assists), but exploded for a 22-goal season in 2024-25, while also winning 54.1% of his face-offs, and only 10 PIM (he'd help Toronto's discipline issue that's for sure).

Nothing is guaranteed, and Toronto may very well miss out like they have many times before, so Brad Treliving needs to be proactive and make sure Roslovic puts pen to paper for the blue and white.