With the various moves that the Maple Leafs have made, let's take a look at where their cap space and roster sits after a frenzied first day of free agency.
If you are a Toronto Maple Leafs fan, the last year or so was filled with a lack of real transactions. The team actually made more waiver claims in 2025-26 than they made trades (prior to the deadline) and when they finally did make some deals, it was to sell on whatever pieces they could.
Fast forward only a few months and suddenly the team is one of the most active teams in the entire league. They already made a slew of trades and had a very solid draft, and the first day of free agency was more of the same.
Kicking things off, the team traded Nick Robertson to the Pittsburgh Penguins, then made a total of six signings which included bringing in Sergei Bobrovsky. This is also in addition to extending Troy Stecher, making a deal for Darren Raddysh and then bringing in his former Lightning teammate Nick Paul in exchange for Dennis Hildeby.
It was a lot of movement in the opening day of free agency, so let's take a look at how everything went down.
Where every dollar of cap space went
Toronto's current cap space: -$127,382
Current contracts: 21/23
July 1 spending: $61.5-million
Toronto's signed players (all dollars are for the players full term):
Sergei Bobrovsky: Three-years, $21-million
Jack Roslovic: Two-years, $8-million
Teddy Blueger: Two-years, $5-million
Colton Sissons: Two-years, $8.5-million
Zack MacEwan: Two-years, $1.75-million
Nick Paul: Three-years, $9.45-million
Brandon Duhaime: Three-years, $7.8-million
The biggest splash was obviously Bobrovsky, but even then it was a lot cheaper than it could have been. Reports showed that he wanted potentially a five or six year deal worth $8-million or more, so getting him at a lower-term and salary is a nice bonus.
Some may recoil at deals for Sissons or Blueger however as you can see there's a distinct win-now mentality with the slew of two and three year deals, so they are meant to be options to help now and they aren't exactly breaking the bank especially compared to other deals signed on Wednesday.
But the clear theme was getting deeper and getting a lot more defensively sound. Sissons, Blueger, Paul, and Duhaime are all great penalty killers, bring a lot of speed and are overall a lot harder to play against than Robertson or Matias Maccelli was.
They are also a lot deeper at centre with three guys in Sissons, Blueger and Roslovic who can all slot in, and if the goal was to get tougher then mission accomplished.
They don't have space to work with and need to make some deals in order to sign any more players or make trades, but leave it to Chayka to have something in his back pocket come the rest of July.
How the lineup actually shakes out top to bottom
While we cannot guarantee that this is the lineup that the Maple Leafs are throwing out in 2026-27 considering all the other moves that may be made, but as it stands right now, this is how the lineup would likely play out:
McKenna - Matthews - Roslovic
Knies - Tavares - Nylander
Cowan - Blueger - Joshua
Lorentz - Sissons - Duhaime
McCabe - Raddysh
Rielly - Tanev
Andrae - OEL
Stecher - Myers
Bobrovsky
Stolarz
That first line has a lot of firepower with Matthews obviously and adding Roslovic who is a prove 20-goal scorer with a lot of chemistry and familiarity with the captain alongside Gavin McKenna should only make things even more fun to watch.
That second line is about to do some damage though, as you've got the potential to have three 65+ point players who can all score 30 goals. Tavares may need to be replaced later in the future but for now he's shown no signs of regressing, meanwhile Knies and Nylander are studs who reliably put up big numbers.
It's the bottom-six that sees a huge overhaul and for the better. Out are names like Robertson, and Maccelli and in are a lot smarter and savvier defensive players like Blueger and Sissons.
Toronto's issue last season was using Auston Matthews as a heavy PK presence but adding a bevy of guys who can take that burden off his shoulders should help bring him back to his previous form.
Bobrovsky now becomes the unequivocal #1 in net and his ability to handle 50+ games is going to be instrumental in not only keeping Anthony Stolarz healthy but also ensure that Toronto always has a better chance of winning every night.
The one area Toronto still has not fixed
For all the moves that Toronto made today there are still a couple holes to fill. First, they did a lot of great progress in making themselves deeper but they still lack a true top-six punch. Roslovic is good but the team could have used a player like Mason Marchment, who went to the San Jose Sharks (though his $5.75M AAV would have been a hard sell).
There are names like Patrick Kane, Michael Bunting, and Anthony Mantha available but after that it becomes a little bit harder to find that offensive punch without making a trade of some kind. They have the chance to make moves, but they are going to find slim pickings in the coming weeks.
They also neglected to find a move for Morgan Rielly, though reports surfaced that state the team is still working on a potential deal so there could be more cap space for Toronto to work with in the coming days and weeks.
That isn't as important because even if Rielly does stick around, he won't be featured in a top role and it'll help the team immensely giving other players the responsibility.
We also don't know how Gavin McKenna is going to adapt to the NHL, so having a top-six player who can move up and down depending on the situation and perhaps give McKenna a little breather when things get tough is crucial.
Don't count out John Chayka though because as we've seen before, he's more than willing to make something happen when we least expect it.
What grade do you give the Toronto Maple Leafs' first day of free agency?
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