The Toronto Maple Leafs had a tough start to their 2025-26 NHL season when they struggled with practically everything until almost the end of the calendar year. Nevertheless, things have begun to look a little more bright recently as the Maple Leafs look to turn things around in the second half in search of a Stanley Cup playoff spot.
However, things could have been a lot worse for Toronto had they also invested significant amounts of money into free agent targets that have ended up underperforming to date. Now in retrospect, we will take a look at three players the Maple Leafs are glad that they didn’t successfully sign this past offseason.
3 players the Maple Leafs are glad they didn’t sign last offseason
Gustav Nyquist
As a proven contributor in the NHL for over a decade, Gustav Nyquist was an intriguing option for the Leafs to consider during the past summer. After all, the 36-year-old veteran has posted four 20-plus goal and nine 40-plus point seasons over his 14-year NHL career. More importantly, Nyquist put up his best offensive numbers just two seasons ago with 23 goals and 52 assists for an impressive 75 points in 81 games played with the defensively-minded Nashville Predators team, showing that he could still be productive despite being on the wrong side of 30.
However, Nyquist has struggled immensely after signing with the Winnipeg Jets this past offseason. He has been held scoreless along with just eight assists over 31 games played with the Jets this season and had been a frequent healthy scratch from the lineup due to his underwhelming performance. As Father Time has appeared to finally catch up to the 36-year-old veteran, the Leafs definitely saved a whopping $3.25 million that the Jets ended up handing to Nyquist for his deal.
Andrew Mangiapane
Having played fo GM Brad Treliving during his time with the Calgary Flames, Andrew Mangiapane was believed to be a hot target for the Maple Leafs during free agency season this past summer. Not only would it reunite the two in Toronto, it would also give the opportunity for the once-promising forward to come home and perform in front of the hometown crowd. But in the end, Mangiapane ended up securing a nice two-year, $7.2 million contract with the offensive juggernauts Edmonton Oilers to play with the likes of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. With an environment like that, one would totally expect Mangiapane to rediscover his dominant form seen back during the 2021-22 NHL season when he scored a career-high 35 goals while posting a personal best 55 points in 82 games with the Flames.
However, the 29-year-old winger has disappointed instead in his tenure with the high-flying Oilers to date. Despite getting playing time in their top six, Mangiapane has managed only five goals and six assists for 11 points in 40 games of action, putting him on pace for his lowest totals since his rookie campaign back in 2018-19 with the Flames. Moreover, he has been a healthy scratch in recent games as well as being subject to trade rumors as the Oilers look to move on from the struggling forward.
Jonathan Toews
Finally, the Maple Leafs were considering adding a proven veteran to the team in Jonathan Toews during the past offseason. As a former three-time Stanley Cup champion and the holder of 12 seasons of 20 or more goals and 50 or more points in his illustrious NHL career, the Leafs were hoping his leadership and offensive potential could help solidify their bottom six heading into the 2025-26 season. In a way, Toronto would look for Toews to play an effective role like Jason Spezza did when he wound up his playing career with the Leafs.
Nevertheless, Toews would end up signing a one-year, $2 million contract with the Jets instead. In doing so, the Maple Leafs may have dodged a huge bullet as the 37-year-old center has put up only four goals and 10 assists for 14 points in 43 games played with Winnipeg. As for the team leadership, he hasn’t been able to help will the Jets to more winning success through their struggles as they currently sit near the bottom of the entire league standings. With such production, Toronto is perhaps glad to have the likes of Nicolas Roy help anchor the bottom six instead with the many tangibles that he brings every night in his game, as he has been key to the Leafs recent surge of late.