The Toronto Maple Leafs acquired forward Dakota Joshua from the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for a 2028 fourth-round pick.

Joshua recorded seven goals and 14 points in 57 games with the Canucks during the 2024-25 campaign. He’s two years removed from the best season of his career, where he recorded 18 goals and 32 points during the 2023-24 season for the Canucks. It appears that Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving is making a calculated bet that Joshua’s output two seasons ago is the truer measure of his player profile.

Joshua was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2024 and underwent surgery in September. He made his season debut for the Canucks against the New York Islanders on November 14.

“Dakota went through a lot last season before the year even started and we were very impressed in how he handled such a difficult off-ice situation,” Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin said in a news release. “Once healthy, he tried hard to help the team in many ways, and we want to wish him the best moving forward in Toronto.”

The 29-year-old signed a four-year contract with the Canucks in 2024, which holds a $3.25 million cap hit through the 2027-28 season.

This will mark Joshua’s second stint with the Maple Leafs organization, as he was selected in the fifth-round of the 2014 NHL Draft by Toronto. Toronto traded Joshua’s NHL rights to the St. Louis Blues in July 2019.

While it’s not the top-six forward the Maple Leafs need to land ahead of the upcoming season, there’s some cost certainty surrounding the left-handed centre and allows Toronto to build some genuine depth in its bottom-six. Joshua could potentially force Scott Laughton onto the left wing, although Laughton was originally envisioned by many as the Leafs’ third-line centre upon being acquired from the Philadelphia Flyers at the 2025 trade deadline. There will be real competition for spots, and it will be compelling to see how Laughton, Calle Jarnkrok, Nick Robertson and David Kampf respond to the implicit challenge during training camp.

For more details on what Joshua could potentially provide for the Maple Leafs, CanucksArmy has additional coverage of Joshua’s tenure with the team, with an emphasis on his impact during the 2023-24 playoffs.

The Leafs Nation’s Nick Alberga and Jay Rosehill also provided an instant reaction to the Joshua trade: