Toronto lost Mitch Marner last season while Ottawa lost Brady Tkachuk this summer, but in the Battle of Ontario - Toronto comes out ahead of their provincial rivals.
This past summer, the Toronto Maple Leafs did their best to try and replace the loss of Mitch Marner after a dismal 2025-26. They added a contingent of players who add scoring, defence, and playmaking, all in the hopes of fielding a competitive team for the remainder of Auston Matthews' time in Toronto.
On the inverse, the Ottawa Senators lost a huge part of their lineup and identity when they dealt away captain Brady Tkachuk to the Florida Panthers for the #9 (Traded to SJ) and #25 (Jonas Lagerberg Hoen) pick in the 2026 NHL Draft, another conditional first-round pick in the 2029 NHL Draft and a second-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft.
Ottawa added skill but hasn't replaced everything that Brady Tkachuk brought them
That completely shifted the course of the Atlantic Division but while the Maple Leafs have done their due diligence this past offseason, Steve Staios and the Senators have done little to replace Tkachuk - a hard feat no doubt.
While the Senators did end up adding some firepower this offseason by trading for William Eklund and Andre Burakovsky this summer and that added a combined 86 points (26 goals, 60 assists) while giving Ottawa both a young foundational piece (Eklund) and a reliable veteran who can consistently give you double-digit goals.
You can't look past Eklund, who is coming off back-to-back 50+ point seasons with San Jose at only 23, and at the very least he'll be able to give the Senators some added offence in Tkachuk's absence.
That's all well and good, but Tkachuk offered more than just offence. His 463 points rank fifth all-time in Senators franchise history, but he also ranks second all-time in PIM (821) which is exactly the hole that Ottawa is going to have difficulty filling.
Tkachuk didn't care who was on the ice, he wanted to get in their face. You can't replace the toughness he brought in terms of protection. The Senators were his team and it didn't matter if it was Tim Stutzle or Claude Giroux he wanted to throw down.
The Senators were built around the agitating nature of Tkachuk, where he could sway the game physically and offensively for his team, but with him gone it's a much different identity in 2026-27.
But now they're building around the future, which puts them at a bit of a disadvantage in the Atlantic Division.
Toronto built their lineup to replace Marner and spread it between four lines
Marner offered a ton when it came to the Maple Leafs and it's very hard to find one person to replace him, so Toronto went with a committee of players instead.
Let's see what Marner offered and see how the Maple Leafs tried to replace him:
Playmaking - Gavin McKenna
Powerplay - Darren Raddysh, Jack Roslovic
Puck Movement - McKenna, Raddysh, Roslovic, Emil Andrae
Penalty Killing - Colton Sissons, Teddy Blueger, Brandon Duhaime, Nick Paul
Late-Game Usage - Sissons, Paul
McKenna will add playmaking and is coming off a three-and-a-half season stretch where he had 211 assists while also factors into the puck-movement and powerplay. Don't expect him to replace Marner's production right away but the potential and talent is there.
Raddysh's inclusion on the man advantage will transform their powerplay and give them someone who had 10 goals and 26 points on the PP last year while also providing them a real shot threat as well.
Roslovic comes in as someone who is a proven 20-goal scorer and someone who has chemistry and familiarity with Auston Matthews, so the hope there is that the old magic will rekindle itself in Toronto.
The defensive side is where things really got beefed up. The additions of Sissons, Blueger, Paul, and Duhaime will give Toronto not only reliable penalty killers but also some elite face-off takers who can gain possession quickly and hold onto it.
One of the biggest things Toronto added too was speed. Duhaime finished in the 92nd percentile in max skating speed (23.30 MPH) and Sissons finished in the 84th percentile (22.98 MPH). Tack on Paul and Roslovic who are above average in speed and you have a more mobile team altogether.
It's the way that Toronto decided to replace Marner because after last season they knew they needed to fill more than just the offensive gap left behind.
Do you think Toronto prepared better for Marner's absence than Ottawa did Brady Tkachuk's?
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