Looking beyond this year, the Toronto Maple Leafs will have quite a few of their players becoming restricted and unrestricted free agents upon the conclusion of the 2025-26 NHL season. While the bulk of them fall under the restricted class, the Maple Leafs will have a few key players that could be lost to the free agent market due to their unrestricted status.
Among those candidates, Scott Laughton is one that experts believe that the Leafs should start looking into doing an extension with before the end of the season, as the rugged forward brings many tangibles in his game. However, for the rest, they may not be as fortunate in reuniting with the club. As a result, we will take a look at 3 Maple Leafs players that are unlikely to return to Toronto next season.
Calle Jarnkrok
Calle Jarnkrok may have been a key piece of the Leafs’ contending puzzle when he first joined the team back in 2022. After all, he posted career bests in goals (20) and points (39) during his first year with Toronto while playing effectively in almost all situations. However, the past couple of seasons has been a lot different for Jarnkrok to say the least. Injury woes ultimately kept him out for the majority of his 2024-25 campaign, while he has been a frequent healthy scratch this season with the likes of Laughton, Dakota Joshua, Easton Cowan, Steven Lorentz and even Nick Robertson surpassing him on the depth chart. In total, Jarnkrok has recorded six goals in 29 games of action with the Leafs so far this year.
There has even been rumors earlier in the season that Jarnkrok would be returning to his country to play in Sweden for the 2026-27 year. However, his agent later on denied the reports were true. Nevertheless, with his role on the Leafs diminishing in recent years, in addition to entering free agency after the end of the 2025-26 season, the chances of Jarnkrok coming back to Toronto are getting slimmer by the day.
Matt Benning
For those who recall, defenseman Matt Benning was part of the return package that the Maple Leafs received in their trade with the San Jose Sharks for Timothy Liljegren back in October of 2024. With the draft picks that Toronto received being the focus of the trade, Benning was expected to just provide valuable depth on the blue line for the organization. That certainly turned out to be the case as the 31-year-old defenseman has spent the majority of his time with the Toronto Marlies in his tenure with the Leafs. In 55 total games with the Marlies, Benning has recorded three goals and 15 assists for 18 points.
The veteran defender finally saw his first game of action with the Maple Leafs after he was recalled from the Marlies in late December due to injuries to key players such as Chris Tanev and Dakota Joshua. Benning played over 12 minutes while registering three blocked shots and a giveaway in the game against the New York Islanders on January 3. However, he hasn’t seen any action ever since as he hasn’t been part of the Leafs regular rotation of defenders. Due to his limited usage to date, as a pending free agent this upcoming offseason, Leafs fans shouldn’t expect to see Benning back beyond this year.
Bobby McMann
Finally, we have one of the more productive players in the lineup this season in Bobby McMann. After waning in effectiveness down the stretch last season, McMann has developed into a more consistent force this year for Toronto. Using his physicality and hard-nosed play, the 29-year-old forward has been very effective in generating chances and finishing off play for the Leafs this year. In doing so, McMann has tallied 15 goals, 10 assists for 25 points in 47 games. That would put him on pace for 26 goals and 43 points for the year, which would easily smash his previous career highs.
So why would McMann be gone following the conclusion of the 2025-26 season with the Leafs if he has been doing so well? Well, that is exactly the reason why, as with his strong performance in his overall game, he has raised his value so much that it might be beyond the price range that Toronto can afford to keep him. Although recent reports have indicated that the Maple Leafs have started preliminary talks to extend McMann, sources expect him to get a huge pay bump from his current $1.35 million AAV per year salary, thus potentially pricing himself out of town with Toronto already tight to the salary cap.