Toronto Maple Leafs

Now That the Maple Leafs Traded Their Draft Picks, What’s Left?

Brendan Brisson looks like a minor signing. But for the Maple Leafs, he may be part of a bigger strategy to find prospects wherever they can.

by
Old Prof
September 5, 2026

Today, the Toronto Maple Leafs signed Brendan Brisson to a one-year deal. On the surface, it’s about as boring as a transaction gets. The 24-year-old played three games for the New York Rangers last year, picked up one assist, and I’d expect him to be ticketed for the minors rather than a real NHL role. Read about it; forget it. An easy piece of news to scroll past.

But I actually think there’s something more interesting going on underneath a move like this, and it says more about how new GM John Chayka is operating than it does about Brisson himself.

The Maple Leafs Basically Tossed Their Young Assets in the Dumpster

Here’s my thought. Toronto has traded away a lot of its young talent over the past few years and, when the dust has settled, has little to show for it. In doing so, they lost the guys who were supposed to become the next wave of NHL depth. So the question becomes, what do you do once you’ve dealt away chunks of your own pipeline?

Given who you already have on the roster, you don’t necessarily blow the whole thing up and launch a five-year rebuild. You just start looking for your next wave of players wherever you can actually find them.

That’s exactly what a signing like Brisson represents. Toronto doesn’t need to believe he’s a future top-six forward. They just need to believe there’s something worth looking at. And because the cost is basically nothing, they can take shot after shot on players like this without any real risk.

If I’m right, new GM John Chayka’s goal is to first draft when you can. Second, develop the prospects you’ve still got. And, third, take a flyer on a former high pick who hasn’t found his footing yet. In Brisson, they signed a young guy who lit up the AHL somewhere. They brought in a player other teams overlooked and will give him a real look in training camp, letting the competition sort it out.

If You’re the Maple Leafs, You Get Your Prospects Wherever You Can

That’s really the whole philosophy in one line. And it lines up with something worth noticing about how Chayka’s building this roster in general. He doesn’t seem to be chasing one perfect answer to Toronto’s depth problem. He seems to be creating as many chances as possible for an answer to show up on its own. It’s less “find the guy” and more “create enough opportunities that somebody surprises you.”

Most of these low-cost swings won’t pan out. But that’s the bottom line, and it’s fine enough. These kinds of signings are never really the expectation. Brisson probably ends up playing in the minors, and that’s a totally reasonable outcome.

But somewhere in that pile of long-shot signings, minor-league tryouts, and reclamation projects, Toronto’s betting that one or two of them actually stick. And when your team’s already traded away some of its own future, that portfolio approach might be exactly the right way to go rebuild it without ever calling it a rebuild.