Maple Leafs Ranked Among NHL’s Best in Important Roster Metric

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ELMONT, NEW YORK - APRIL 09: Easton Cowan #53 of the Toronto Maple Leafs celebrates his second period goal against the New York Islanders at UBS Arena on April 09, 2026 in Elmont, New York. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

The Toronto Maple Leafs are one of the most exciting teams to watch heading into the next NHL season, and they have earned recognition as one of the league’s deepest teams.

After the structural and roster changes made by the Toronto franchise, fans and the media are paying close attention to what the 2026-27 season could look like for the Leafs.

Although they haven’t proven anything yet, since all of these changes happened during the offseason, some experts and analysts already consider them one of the best rosters heading into the upcoming campaign.

Maple Leafs Named Among NHL’s Deepest Rosters

The Hockey News ranked the four best teams in the NHL in terms of squad depth and included the Maple Leafs on that list. The argument is that they not only landed the No. 1 overall draft pick, Gavin McKenna, but also rebuilt their bottom-six forward group and goaltending options by adding players such as Sergei Bobrovsky, while strengthening their defense with players of Darren Raddysh’s caliber.

“Say what you will about the Maple Leafs’ sub-par performances this past season, when they fell to last place in the Atlantic Division and 15th place in the Eastern Conference. But new GM John Chayka earned a lot of praise this summer with the slew of changes he’s made to Toronto’s roster,” The Hockey News’ Adam Proteau wrote.

He added, “The Maple Leafs are still going to face an uphill battle getting into the Stanley Cup playoffs, but Chayka has given his group the depth it needs to compete.”

Below, we take a detailed look at what the Maple Leafs’ roster looks like as of today, ahead of the start of the upcoming season.