The Toronto Maple Leafs have a big logjam in their depth chart at the forward position. This offseason, general manager Brad Treliving made it his personal mission to change the forward mix and despite losing Mitch Marner, Treliving has done a good job bringing in talent that will shake up the forward group.
Even after bringing in the likes of Nicholas Roy, Dakota Joshua and Matias Maccelli, there weren’t really any subtractions from the team up front aside from the aforementioned Marner and Max Pacioretty. As of right now, there are 14 forwards listed on their NHL roster according to PuckPedia. That leaves Nicholas Robertson, Calle Jarnkrok and David Kampf as candidates that could be on the move. However, if we include Easton Cowan and Michael Pezzetta into that conversation, it makes things even more interesting. Not to mention, if the Maple Leafs invite anyone to camp on a professional tryout (PTO).
All this brings up the question regarding the forward logjam: who stays and who goes? Well, let’s take a deep dive into the forward group and see who is most likely to leave the organization and who should stay as we head into the beginning of the 2025-26 NHL season.
Robertson & Pezzetta Stay
Considering that Cowan can be sent to the AHL and start his pro career there with the Toronto Marlies, he isn’t going to be going anywhere. Now, on to Robertson and Pezzetta, who will be the two players that will most likely be staying put with the Maple Leafs. Starting first with Pezzetta, he just signed a two-year contract with the Maple Leafs, which was the team he loved growing up. He was brought in because he fits a role that was previously filled by Ryan Reaves but at a lower cost. With how Treliving and head coach Craig Berube want this team ran, it would be shocking if they elected to move him at all, but less shocking if he ended up watching a number of games from the press box this season.
Nick Robertson, Toronto Maple Leafs (Amy Irvin / The Hockey Writers)
As for Robertson, he has a chance to earn a bigger role with the team as we head into training camp. With the departure of Marner, and the additions of more physical bottom-six forwards, he doesn’t fit in the bottom six anymore. With that said, it makes more sense for Berube to give him an opportunity in the top six and see how well he can perform. At the end of the day, it may not be a bad idea considering that he had 15 goals in 69 games playing 12 minutes per night and being taken out of the lineup quite often.
Jarnkrok & Kampf Go
As for the players that will end up leaving the team, it has to be Jarnkrok and Kampf. Both of them just don’t fit on the team anymore, plus the Maple Leafs could use the money they’d save by trading them and allocate it to other areas of the roster. Starting with the more obvious choice, Kampf only drew into the lineup once in the playoffs, and that essentially was the writing on the wall. Unfortunately, due to his $2.4 million cap hit, it makes him a bit harder to trade. That could be a different story if he fails to make the opening night roster, or if he is placed on waivers and sent to the AHL.
Related: Maple Leafs Shouldn’t Consider Dillon Dube as Top-Six Forward Option
Jarnkrok is the most interesting option on this list. Some may argue that it is Robertson, but there doesn’t seem to be too much interest in him. But for Jarnkrok, there could be. He is entering the last year of his contract with an AAV of $2.1 million, and is coming off a playoff run where he re-established himself as a reliable bottom-six option. That could be appealing to teams like the Washington Capitals or even the Carolina Hurricanes, who could be looking to add another veteran forward to the mix.
Obviously, with how he played last season and how much Berube seemed to enjoy him on a line with Scott Laughton and Steven Lorentz, he could be an option for the fourth line. But with the addition of Joshua, it seems like that role on the last line is essentially spoken for. Which is why he seems like one of the most viable trade candidates on the Maple Leafs as they head into the 2025-26 season.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens. There could be a world where Robertson gets dealt this preseason, or that Jarnkrok and Kampf get placed on waivers and either get claimed or assigned to the minors. There are so many questions regarding the forward logjam, and it’ll be fascinating to see how Berube builds the entire forward group this season.
