The Toronto Maple Leafs had a forgettable 2025-26 NHL campaign last season that saw them sink to almost the bottom of the standings by the year’s end. A lot of their disappointment had to do with some underwhelming performances by some of the Leafs’ key players.
Now with new management, a new influx of players, along with a fresh start to the upcoming season, Toronto has high hopes in becoming contenders once again. In order to accomplish the feat, they will need some of their stars that underachieved last season to have a big year ahead of them. As a result, we will take a look at 3 Maple Leafs players that should have a huge bounceback campaign in 2026-27.
Anthony Stolarz
Of all of the Leafs, goaltender Anthony Stolarz would probably the one that want to put behind his 2025-26 performance the most. After all, Stolarz endured one of his worst seasons of his nine-year NHL career last year when he posted a 10-10-3 record with a 3.28 GAA and career-worst .893 save percentage. Not only that, the 32-year-old veteran also battled injury woes that limited him to just 26 games played, his lowest total in three years.
Toronto certainly didn’t expect to see this version of Stolarz. Especially not after leading the Maple Leafs to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2024-25 and signing a four-year extension worth $15 million in the offseason following that performance.
But now with Sergei Bobrovsky taking over the starting goaltender reigns for the Leafs, it will enable Stolarz to return to his comfortable role as a backup where his limited number of games will help preserve his health and keep him as effective as possible. As a result, look for the 32-year-old goalie to rebound more towards his numbers in line with much of his career.
Morgan Rielly
As a prime candidate that was often rumored to be on the way out of Toronto for pretty much this whole year, it may come as a surprise to some to see Morgan Rielly still in a Maple Leafs uniform. But as NHL insiders Jonas Siegel and Chris Johnston recently highlighted the reasons why he hasn’t been traded, Rielly will begin the 2026-27 season once again in the Blue and White.
The 32-year-old defenseman had posted back-to-back seasons with declining offensive numbers, going from a 58-point campaign back in 2023-24, down to 41 points in 2024-25, and down once again to just 36 points last season. Perhaps former Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube and his defensive system limited the effectiveness of Rielly due to not utilizing him properly.
Now with new Leafs coach Jim Hiller having a greater familiarity with his style of play from his previous tenure with the club, he should be able to deploy Rielly in the right way to help maximize his strengths and minimize his weaknesses. In doing so, look for the 32-year-old defenseman to redeem himself this season.
Auston Matthews
Finally, we have the face of the franchise in Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews. For someone that still posted 27 goals and 26 assists for 53 points in 60 games with Toronto, that would be solid production numbers for any NHLer in the league. However, because we are talking about Matthews, a former Hart Trophy winner who had registered 60+ goals and 100+ points campaigns in two of his four previous seasons prior to 2025-26, the expectations have obviously been set a lot higher.
As a result, it made his 2025-26 campaign last year quite the disappointment. It also didn’t help that Matthews didn’t look totally 100% for much of the season as he dealt with a lower body injury earlier in the year and of course the MCL tear at the hands of the Radko Gudas infamous hit that ultimately ended his season.
Now after an entire offseason to get back to full health, along with the drafting of Gavin McKenna that could turn out to be Mitch Marner 2.0 and more, the Leafs’ captain will be raring to go for a redemption campaign in 2026-27 to show everyone once again why he is one of the top players in the entire NHL.
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