After a very busy few weeks to kick off the month of July, things have quieted down on the Maple Leafs front.

That said, the market’s still buzzing over last week’s front office cuts.

That’s where the conversation started on the latest summer edition of Leafs Morning Take. Rosie missed Friday’s show, so finally, he had a chance to chime in all that. In short, there’s been a lot of turnover across the organization. It will be fascinating to see how everything comes together. On the ice, the team will look substantially different, too. Full credit to John Chayka: He preached changed, and that’s exactly what he’s done. Speaking of which, we talked about the core pieces staying. Most specifically, we debated who’s likelier to experience a bounce-back season: Auston Matthews or William Nylander. Any way you slice it, both players need to be MUCH better.

Meantime, the 2026-27 NHL regular-season schedule drops Thursday, so we looked ahead to some of the marquee dates. For me, Sergei Bobrovsky’s return to Florida is right at the top of the list, while Rosie can’t wait for Gavin McKenna’s NHL debut. Also, you just know that Nick Robertson’s going to have a NIGHT when he returns to Toronto as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins. More than anything, though, we’re just curious to see what this team looks like. We also talked about the importance of building chemistry, something that could be tested early with the NHL’s shortened training camp and preseason schedule this year.

Along those lines, it’s going to be weird to see Dennis Hildeby in a Tampa Bay Lightning uniform. We talked about what Chayka’s done in between the pipes, and if it was the right decision to move off both Hildeby and Joseph Woll. Clearly, the Leafs are very high on Artur Akhtyamov, or they wouldn’t have made those moves.

After that discussion, AEW star and WWE Hall of Famer Adam Copeland stopped by to share his thoughts on the Maple Leafs’ eventful offseason. While he admitted he was initially surprised by the hiring of John Chayka as general manager, Copeland stressed the importance of giving him a fair chance and believes the early returns have been encouraging. He also explained why the Jim Hiller hire has grown on him, highlighted Nick Paul as one of Toronto’s most underrated additions, and discussed why this season is so critical for the Leafs’ core. To wrap things up, Copeland compared Gavin McKenna’s sky-high ceiling to AEW star Will Ospreay and offered his prediction for the 2026-27 campaign.

Catch the next summer episode of Leafs Morning Take on Wednesday at 11 AM e.t.

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