Maple Leafs make it official for Dakota Joshua just one day before season opener

With the NHL regular season starting on Tuesday, the Maple Leafs have finally gotten their answer when it comes to Dakota Joshua and his injury status.

We are just over 24 hours away from the NHL season kicking off and the Toronto Maple Leafs are one of the first teams to get their 2026-27 year kicked off. Taking on their most bitter and longest rivals, the Montreal Canadiens, it's going to be a hard-fought and intense game that has a boatload of excitement surrounding Gavin McKenna.

However, the team is still dealing with injury concerns as Max Domi is out long-term, Nick Paul has been dealing with an unspecified issue, and Dakota Joshua missed both preseason contests with no indication as to what's going on with him either.

Dakota Joshua set to hit the IR to start 2026-27

But we at least have a better idea of what his status is after Monday's practice, and it seems like the team is going to be without him to start the season.

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Joshua was skating however was an extra forward at practice, with Toronto Sun reporter Lance Hornby later clairifying he believes Joshua will start the season on injured reserve:

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While it's positive news that Joshua is skating, and we have seen the return of Nick Paul to the lineup, it's still a frustrating start for a player who has fallen on some seriously bad luck over the past few seasons.

Dakota Joshua's tough road through the NHL

Now, Joshua actually had a strong start to his NHL career, and managed to find himself with the St. Louis Blues after ironically being traded away from Toronto in 2019. He found his footing in Vancouver but then all of a sudden his luck turned sour.

He was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2024 and managed to have surgery to remove a tumour and find himself with a clean bill of health. But he still missed 25 games and managed only 14 points with the Canucks before signing with Toronto in 2025.

He was slowly getting comfortable as a bottom-six force when a freak accident in Detroit led to him suffering a lacerated kidney after simply running into the boards:

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There was nothing suspicious or initially concerning there but then suddenly Joshua was on the shelf again. Now this summer he has missed preseason with a core injury and is unlikely to start the season with the team. It's a string of bad luck that would throw any career into disarray.

All we can hope is that Joshua finds himself healthy enough to be a staple in the lineup, but if not at least the team has enough depth to cover for him. Then they need to decide if he's worth keeping if they can't keep him on the ice.

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