With the Toronto Maple Leafs struggling to start the 2025-26 NHL season, they will need to find a way to turn things around soon before it’s too late. Whether it be tinkering with the everyday lineup, promoting or demoting players, or even potentially making external moves to make the team better, the Leafs definitely need to try something to get them out of their funk.
As a result, which Maple Leafs players could see their hold on a roster spot in jeopardy in the coming weeks? Let’s take a look at three candidates that likely won’t survive the roster by November.
G Cayden Primeau
In the aftermath of Joseph Woll’s leave of absence prior to the start of the 2025-26 regular season, the Leafs went out to claim Cayden Primeau off of waivers from the Carolina Hurricanes to serve as the de-facto backup to starter Anthony Stolarz to begin the year. To date, Primeau has only appeared in only one game for Toronto in which he gave up four goals on 30 shots in a 7-4 win over the Nashville Predators on October 14.
The fact that the 26-year-old goalie has only seen action in one of the eight Leafs games to date clearly showed that he wasn’t a 1B option to Stolarz but instead just a stop-gap solution until Woll’s eventual return. Now that Woll has finally rejoined the team to resume activities with Toronto after dealing with his personal matter, it won’t be long before he takes back the crease and push Primeau out of an NHL roster spot and eventually head back down to the Marlies to act as goaltending depth for the Maple Leafs going forward if he manages to clear waivers.
F Easton Cowan
It has certainly been a feel good story to see top prospect Easton Cowan finally make his NHL debut this year with the Leafs. After putting together back-to-back monster seasons in juniors, along with a promising training camp, Cowan officially got the call just before the season opener and has been steadily with the club ever since.
However, up until now, the young 20-year-old forward had seen himself healthy scratched a few times, along with recording just two assists over five games played. Cowan even had a shot on the top line with Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies, but eventually failed to stick with the unit for long. He has also been used elsewhere in the lineup, but appears to still be on a learning curve as he learns to adapt to the fast pace of the NHL. As a result, Cowan will likely be sent back down to the Marlies once Scott Laughton returns from the injured reserve for more seasoning. That way, his play would be more polished and complete the next time he gets the call up.
F Nick Robertson
Finally, we have the player most immersed in recent trade rumors in young forward Nick Robertson. Despite being hyped during his growth and development in juniors that made him a draft steal for the Leafs at one point in time, Robertson had been somewhat of a disappointment since making it to the big show. He has still put up 14 and 15 goals in back-to-back seasons in the past two years with Toronto. However, much more had been expected of him given his elite shot and his massive 55-goal campaign that he had in his final year in juniors with the Peterborough Petes.
Unfortunately, Robertson has gotten off to a dismal start to his 2025-26 season, registering just one assist in seven games, including being healthy-scratched on Friday against the Buffalo Sabres. Since the 24-year-old winger is known primarily for his offensive abilities rather than his defense, when he isn’t scoring, he often doesn’t appear to be contributing much as a result. Therefore, perhaps a change of scenery for a fresh start could do wonders to kickstart his career once again, despite NHL insider NIck Kypreos urging for it not to happen. So with the Leafs trying to work out a potential trade for Robertson, his tenure with the team could come to an end pretty soon.