The Toronto Maple Leafs and their disappointing 2025-26 NHL campaign is now already a foregone conclusion. But one of the major reasons behind such a failure of a season could be attributed to the fact that some of their players did not perform up to the standards that was expected of them. What made it worse was the fact that the Leafs had invested quite a bit into those key pieces with hopes that they would help make a difference for the team this year.
As a result, we will take a closer look at the four players that became the Maple Leafs’ worst investments from the 2025-26 season, as the value that they provided didn’t living up to the billing.
F Dakota Joshua
Acquired in a trade with the Vancouver Canucks during the past offseason, Dakota Joshua was expected to provide some much-needed grit and secondary scoring from the bottom six for the Leafs heading into the year. However, with a cap hit of $3.25 million AAV per season, Joshua has managed just nine goals and five assists for 14 points in 49 total games played for Toronto this year prior to Wednesday. Although he has picked up his play a bit im recent games to give a glimpse of what he can provide in the long run.
Moreover, he also ended up missing almost two months of action due to an unfortunate laceration of his kidney during a game against the Detroit Red Wings in late December. With his current contract running through to the end of the 2027-28 season, Joshua will have the opportunity to prove his worth once again in the future with the franchise, but this year just left a lot to be desired.
D Brandon Carlo
Also acquired in a trade, but this time from the Boston Bruins at last year’s deadline, Brandon Carlo has been truly disappointing for the Leafs this season. With an annual salary of $3.485 million (as the Bruins retained 15% of his salary in the trade transaction), Carlo is being paid as a top-four shutdown defenseman, but really hasn’t been playing like one. Expected to form a strong duo with Maple Leafs mainstay Morgan Rielly, the 29-year-old veteran defender has struggled to a dismal 44% CF% and 46% expected goals rate in 5-on-5 situations this year. Not only that, Carlo is currently sporting a career-worst 10:1 giveaway-to-takeaway ratio as well, tilting the ice in the opponents favour as a result.Â
He has barely resembled his dominant form seen back when he was with Boston earlier on in his career. Added to the emergence of Fraser Minten, who is currently flourishing in a Bruins’ uniform, this investment definitely has hurt the Leafs more than it has helped.
G Anthony Stolarz
As one of the key pieces from the Leafs’ successful 2024-25 campaign, Anthony Stolarz was rewarded with a massive four-year, $15 million extension through to the 2029-30 season during training camp this past year. However, currently at a cap hit of $2.5 million AAV that would increase to $3.75 million AAV next season, Stolarz has had a disastrous 2025-26 campaign filled with injuries and inconsistencies with Toronto.
After being among the league leaders in goaltending last season, the 32-year-old veteran has compiled just a 9-9-3 record with a less-than-stellar 3.27 GAA and .894 save percentage over just 23 games of action. On top of that, Stolarz was forced to miss over 10 weeks of action with an upper-body injury earlier in the season, putting the Leafs in a bind as they had to make Joseph Woll carry the load for the team. With his constant struggles this year, Stolarz has been subject more to trade rumors than remaining as a key piece for the Maple Leafs future as a result.
D Chris Tanev
Finally, Chris Tanev was always expected to be the Leafs’ anchor on the blue line as one of the league’s best defensive defenseman during the last decade. It was also the main reason why Toronto handed him a massive six-year, $27 million contract that carried an annual cap hit of $4.5 million AAV to recruit him to town. Everyone knew that without Tanev leading the way, the Maple Leafs defense would be way more vulnerable, which they sadly found out this season.
The 36-year-old veteran defenseman was limited to just 11 games this season with Toronto due to various injuries, including a scary upper-body injury earlier in the season that put him out for almost two months and later a groin injury that eventually led to his season-ending core muscle surgery earlier this month. When the Leafs signed Tanev, they knew he came with an injury history risk due to the style of game that he plays. They just didn’t expect it to hit that much such that it would ultimately torpedo their entire season as a result of it. Hopefully, Tanev will be able to overcome all of those injury woes. Otherwise, he won’t be just the Leafs worst investment this season, but potentially for his entire contract overall.Â