The Toronto Maple Leafs will be returning to action in 2026-27 with a completely new look relative to last season, both on and off the ice.

They have a new general manager in John Chayka, a new head coach in Jim Hiller, a franchise legend in the front office in Mats Sundin, and Daniel Alfredsson is an assistant coach. Not to mention the fact that they’ll have first overall pick Gavin McKenna up front, Darren Raddysh running the point on the power play, and Sergei Bobrovsky in net stopping pucks. Seriously – outside of the core players, this team is going to be pretty well unrecognizable when training camp rolls along.

The start of training camp and preseason also marks the start of waiver wire activity. Each year, there’s a new crop of players that loses waivers eligibility, forcing teams into some tough decisions, and oftentimes this leads to players finding a groove with a new team after missing the cut with their old one. The Maple Leafs traded Dennis Hildeby to the Tampa Bay Lightning because of this, and there will be some players who could see the same fate this season, whether that be via trade of waivers. Here are three players who will be losing waivers eligibility that the Leafs should keep eyes on in 2026-27.

The Capitals once saw Miroshnichenko as a (using this term extremely lightly) successor to Alex Ovechkin. Not to say that they ever expected him to be the second coming of the best goal-scorer in NHL history, but when you have a right-handed goal-scoring prospect who stands at 6-foot-2 and loves to throw the body, it’s hard not to draw some parallels. They drafted the 22-year-old 20th overall in the 2022 NHL Draft, and despite three productive AHL seasons in a row, he’s only managed 52 NHL games with 13 points combined over three seasons.

The Washington Capitals have quietly formed one of, if not the deepest forward group in the NHL. Their highest-scoring player was Alex Ovechkin with 64 points, but in that same breath, they had eight players finish with at least 40 points. Factor in the trade for Alex Tuch and the addition of prospect Ilya Protas, who will be joining his older brother Aliaksei, and there’s not a lot of room for a player like Miroshnichenko to flourish. The Leafs could probably use one more forward addition, and given the limited game-changers available, a right-handed shooter with top-six upside could be a fun bet for them to make.

Koivunen is an interesting case because he’s currently a restricted free agent (RFA) who doesn’t have a contract yet. He was tendered along with other RFAs, but like Miroshnichenko, we don’t know whether or not the Penguins will be able to give the Finn a secure spot in the lineup. Originally a second-round pick of the Carolina Hurricanes in 2021, he was traded to the Penguins in a blockbuster deal for Jake Guentzel at the 2024 NHL trade deadline.

Koivunen got into 39 NHL games with the Penguins last season, scoring two goals and seven points in 39 games. He was extremely productive in the AHL, finishing the year with 13 goals and 41 points in 34 games, so there’s an argument to be made that he’s ready to take the next step. He has the ability to play both wing and centre, so his versatility could be of interest to the Leafs if they lose one of their skilled players to injury.

Like Koivunen, Morrow is also in need of a new contract and has yet to sign one with the Rangers, who are probably looking to forget 2025-26 ever happened and rebound in 2026-27. The 22-year-old right-handed defenceman recorded 19 points in 34 games for the Hartford Wolf Pack of the AHL and got into 29 NHL games, finishing with six assists.

The Leafs will need some depth on the back end. Despite the addition of Darren Raddysh and the return of Chris Tanev, the latter has durability issues, and if the former gets hurt, the Leafs lose arguably their best puck-mover. Morrow would be able to aid in the role, and he’s young enough that there could be some more to his game beyond the seventh defenceman he’s currently poised to be in Manhattan.