There is no doubt that a lot of NHL teams sat back and watched the 2025-26 Boston Bruins thrive in a retool on the fly by general manager Don Sweeney and thought, "We can do that too.''
One of those teams is the Toronto Maple Leafs under first-year general manager John Chayka. What a spot he walked into. The Maple Leafs won the NHL Draft Lottery and were able to select Gavin McKenna with the first pick, rather than having it fall outside the top 5 and go to the Bruins.
Like so many teams in the Atlantic Division and in the Eastern Conference, the Maple Leafs are improving this offseason and should be getting captain Auston Matthews back. In an Atlantic Division that has gotten better, could Toronto swing big at some point and add a star defenseman to the fold?
NHL insider Elliotte Friedman drops potential bad news for the Bruins
Elliotte Friedman dropped his latest 32 Thoughts podcast on Tuesday morning. One of the topics was the Maple Leafs. According to the NHL insider, a source predicted that the Toronto Maple Leafs will ultimately acquire defenseman Erik Karlsson from the Pittsburgh Penguins.
“What’s interesting about that is that, you know, Kyle Dubas has never really told the full story as far as I know,”said Friedman. “But when he was GM of the Leafs, he tried to trade for Karlsson at one point. And he obviously did it in Pittsburgh, but he’s always liked him. Karlsson, it should be pointed out, had a great year last year. This is the last year of his contract, so we’ll see how everybody feels.”
The 36-year-old Karlsson is coming off a tremendous 2025-26 season for the Penguins, where he had 15 goals and 51 assists in 75 games while averaging 23.36 a game. However, if there is a sticking point to get a deal done, Karlsson is entering the final year of an eight-year deal that carries an AAV of $11.5 million. There would have to be some moves going out somehow to fit him under their cap.
However, the bigger picture is that despite being 36 years old, Karlsson still has a slot left in the tank. If this move were to happen, it would signal that Toronto is looking to do what the Black and Gold did last season: bounce back quickly from a one-down season to compete for a playoff spot. This would be another obstacle for the Bruins in 2026-27.
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