Brad Treliving hoped to add another top-six forward to the Leafs roster during the summer to help mitigate the departure of 102-point winger Mitch Marner, but nothing materialized.

“It’s not been from a lack of trying,” the general manager said. “There’s just not a lot of them out there that everybody’s willing to hand over to you, right? So, I think today is no different than yesterday and the day before. It’s going to be tomorrow. You’re always looking to try to improve your team.”

The search will continue, but Treliving, who still has nearly $2-million in salary cap space available, is satisfied with how he was able to shore up the team’s forward group. Right-shot centre Nicolas Roy came over in the sign-and-trade deal with the Vegas Golden Knights, which saw Marner head West. Toronto also acquired wingers Dakota Joshua and Matias Maccelli in deals with the Vancouver Canucks and Utah Mammoth respectively.

Treliving vowed to alter the team’s DNA after watching the Leafs get eliminated in a lopsided loss on home ice in Game 7 of the second-round series against the Florida Panthers and, on that front, Craig Berube believes he succeeded.

“Tree did a hell of a job of changing that over the summer, adding these players,” the Leafs coach said.

“What excites me is I don’t have to hear ‘core four’ anymore,” Berube added. “Hopefully I don’t have to hear it from you guys the whole season.”

The Leafs dedicated more than half of their salary cap space last season to Marner, Auston Matthews, William Nylander and John Tavares. The quartet of forwards, often referred to as the core four, have faced plenty of scrutiny for the franchise’s lack of playoff success in this era.

There’s no doubt that losing Marner stings, but the Leafs are hoping a more balanced balance sheet will lead to a deeper group on the ice and different results come playoff time.

“To me, it’s not replacing 100 points,” Treliving said. “To me, it was rounding out the roster, and I feel good about it. But the reality is we’ll see, right? We’re going to watch now and see where everybody fits.”

Treliving pointed out that the Leafs can get by with less offence this year if the defensive play continues to improve. With Berube behind the bench, Toronto tied for eighth in goals against per game last season (2.79), which was up from 18th (3.18) in the final year of the Sheldon Keefe era.

The Leafs are also drilling down on why the remaining core players have struggled to breakthrough at key moments. Toronto lost Game 5 and Game 7 against the Panthers last season on home ice by identical 6-1 scorelines.

“It’s a lot of pressure,” Berube said. “We all know that, but we’ve got to all be able to deal with it better than we did. And it’s something that we obviously talk about, and we’re trying to get better there.”

LeBrun on Leafs: ‘Unmistakable how light the mood was compared to the past decade’ TSN Hockey Insiders Chris Johnston and Pierre LeBrun join Mark Masters to describe the mood around the Leafs as they begin their first training camp in a decade without Mitch Marner and Brendan Shanahan, and GM Brad Treliving segueing from a Connor McDavid question to addressing a potential Anthony Stolarz extension.

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In a sit-down interview with TSN last month, Marner spoke about how emotional it was when he called Matthews to tell him he was leaving Toronto.

“He’ll be a friend of all of ours for life,” said Matthews while seated beside Tavares and defenceman Morgan Rielly. “Those are always tough conversations to have, but at the end of the day, you know, he made his decision and we wish him nothing but the best moving forward and we’re moving on … [We] can’t really dwell on the past.”

Matthews and Marner entered the league together during the 2016-17 season and spent much of the last few years as linemates.

Berube identified Max Domi and Maccelli as top candidates to take Marner’s vacated spot on the right side of Toronto’s top line beside Matthews and Matthew Knies.

Domi is not expected to be a full participant in Thursday’s practice after tweaking a lower-body injury, Treliving revealed. It is not considered to be a serious issue.

Leafs discuss Marner’s departure, excitement for new additions The Maple Leafs discuss how different will be this season without Mitch Marner on the team, but they’re excited about the new additions to the club and are looking to turn the page on a new chapter.

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Matthews sustained an upper-body injury at training camp last year and never looked quite like himself while scoring a career-low 33 goals in 67 games.

“Health-wise, I’m feeling really good,” assured Matthews, who celebrated his 28th birthday on Wednesday. “I had a good summer, did a lot of things that put me in a position to come into training camp feeling really good, so I’m really happy about that.”

Matthews feeling ‘really good’ health wise heading into training camp Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews updates his health heading into the training camp, and how he’ll manage his workload in an Olympic year.

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During the interview with TSN last month, Marner opened up about concerns he had about his safety and the safety of his family during his time in Toronto. Marner’s home address was posted on social media after the Leafs lost Game 7 against Florida, which led the family to hire private security.

“It’s difficult to hear,” said Tavares. “It should never come to that point, but I think it’s also the nature of being a professional athlete not just in Toronto, but probably in a lot of places or most places in major sports in North America.

“You never want to see a teammate have to go through anything difficult like that, especially, you know, Mitchy being a young father and starting a family.”

Tavares, who is also a local product, signed a four-year extension with the Leafs in the summer. Has he experienced anything similar to what Marner did?

“Anything personal to me, I think I’d rather just keep that personal,” the father of three said. “But my experiences here playing in Toronto have been phenomenal with our fans, our people in the community.”

Tavares comments on Marner’s concerns about family’s safety in Toronto upon exit Maple Leafs forward John Tavares explains how difficult it was to hear Mitch Marner’s concerns about his family’s safety in Toronto and explains that you never want to see a teammate go through something like that.

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Treliving is focused on trying to get goalie Anthony Stolarz signed to a contract extension.

“We’ve been engaged with Anthony and his representatives,” Treliving confirmed. “Nothing to announce today. Well, nothing to announce right now. We’ll see what the day brings. But we’re hopeful to find a good outcome.”

There is extra urgency to get a deal done because TSN Hockey Inside Chris Johnston reports that Stolarz is unwilling to negotiate once the Leafs open the regular season on Oct. 8.

Stolarz, who joined the Leafs on a two-year, $5-million deal after lifting the Stanley Cup as the Panthers backup in the 2023-24 season, is due a raise after leading the NHL in save percentage (.926). He earned the No. 1 job to start the playoffs and backstopped the Leafs to a series win against the Ottawa Senators before sustaining a concussion in Game 1 of the second round.

The 31-year-old also missed significant time with a knee injury during the regular season. Stolarz ended up starting 33 games, which was still a career high.

“I’m confident, until proven otherwise, that we can find something that’s going to work and hopefully we can do that in short order,” Treliving said.

Joseph Woll, 27, also performed well last season giving the Leafs one of the top tandems in the NHL. Woll is entering the first year of a three-year contract this season and the Leafs are eager to maintain their 1-2 punch in between the pipes.

“They support each other well,” noted Treliving.

The longtime NHL executive pointed out that it’s more of “a tandem league” these days with the condensed schedule and extensive travel requiring the workload to be shared.

“I think you need two goaltenders, and we’re fortunate we have two, right?” Treliving said. “We saw it last year. I think they’re both real solid goaltenders. I’d like to see if we can continue to keep them both here. And, you know, that’s going to be the focus here in the next little bit.”

Treliving segues from hinted McDavid question to addressing potential Stolarz extension After TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun asks how much attention he’s paying to big name players around the league who haven’t signed a contract extension yet, Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving segues from the hinted question about Connor McDavid to addressing a potential extension for Anthony Stolarz.

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The Leafs are looking for more from Rielly this season.

“Morgan and I had a real good chat at the end of the year,” Treliving said. “Real honest chat about where his year was at, what I think he’s capable of, what he’s capable of, and I’ll just say it’s something that he took to heart.”

Rielly recorded 41 points in 82 games last year, which was a drop off from the 58 points he racked up in 72 games the previous season. He lost his spot on the top power play unit and finished a team-worst minus-eight.

“I did a lot of reflecting over the course of last year and during the offseason and had some healthy but challenging conversations with a number of people and most importantly myself,” Rielly said. “I believe that I did everything I could to be prepared for a great season. And I think that’s the truth for all of our guys.”

Who’s impressing new Leafs centre Nicolas Roy at the informal skates leading into training camp?

“Morgan Rielly’s been buzzing, I feel like. I wasn’t there before, I’ve seen him playing against him, but he’s been in really good shape”https://t.co/VjOVRzCE7r

— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) September 15, 2025

Rielly weighed in at 219 pounds, which is down six pounds from last year.

“I don’t know if there was many days that he wasn’t in this facility from about a week after the end of the season,” Treliving raved. “Real proud of the summer he’s put in and he’s taken it to heart. He’s a big piece for us. Getting Morgan Rielly back to the level that we know he’s capable of will have an impact on our team.”

With Marner departing, Rielly is likely to regain his spot on the top power-play unit.

“My goal was to leave no stone unturned and try to bounce back and have a great year,” the longest-serving Leaf said.

“For me, it’s about being in shape, skating, playing to your strengths, being dangerous at shooting the puck, and taking it from there.”

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After being found not guilty of sexual assault charges stemming from an incident in London, Ont. in 2018, the NHL ruled that Dillon Dube, Carter Hart, Michael McLeod, Cal Foote and Alex Formenton are eligible to sign a contract as of Oct. 15 and can play again against starting Dec. 1.

Treliving drafted Dube when he served as Calgary Flames general manager in 2016. Is he interested in signing the forward?

“We’re not focused on that right now,” he said. “We’re focused on the 73 players we’ve got here right now and sort of figuring out where that fits.”

Dube produced 11 points in 42 games with Minsk Dynamo in the KHL last season. He twice hit the 18-goal mark while playing with the Flames.

“Obviously, let’s all just be clear, there’s special circumstances around those players,” Treliving said. “You’d have to be very comfortable. At the end of the day, it hasn’t been a focus of ours right now.”

Dube last played in the NHL in January 2024.

Treliving on potential of signing Dube: ‘We’re not focused on that right now’ Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving comments on the rumours about Toronto potentially signing unrestricted free agent Dillon Dube, who was one of the five players acquitted in the London Hockey Trial this summer, and is a player Treliving is familiar with from their time in Calgary.

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The Leafs unveiled their training camp roster on Wednesday. It includes 44 forwards, 23 defencemen and six goalies.

The players will be split into three groups with the first practice set for Thursday.