Columbus Blue Jackets

Pettersson, Zibanejad Seen as Potential Maple Leafs Center Targets

Could the Toronto Maple Leafs target Elias Pettersson or Mika Zibanejad this offseason?

by
Jackson Weber
May 10, 2026

Whether Auston Matthews sticks around or not, the Toronto Maple Leafs are going to want to upgrade and get deeper down the middle of the ice heading into 2026–27.

While still very productive, John Tavares is another year older, and at some point, the Maple Leafs may want to explore moving him to the wing or even reducing his role to become a third-line center.

As a result, team reporter Jonas Siegel threw out some potential targets in a recent article for The Athletic. Those included soon-to-be free agent Charlie Coyle, along with two big-name trade options in Elias Pettersson and Mika Zibanejad.

Siegel wrote:

“The free-agent market has one very viable short-term option in Charlie Coyle. If not Coyle, the Leafs could turn to the trade route. There are some interesting theoretical possibilities with varying degrees of risk.

The riskiest of them all, with the highest upside to match, would be Elias Pettersson. What would it even take to acquire a player like him, with that contract and talent? The upside could be tremendous, but so could the downside. Another risky, if less so, bet: Mika Zibanejad. He’s a bit younger than Tavares and might click on a line with Nylander, a fellow Swede,”

The 34-year-old Coyle, as mentioned, is a pending UFA, having just played out the final season of the six-year, $31.5 million contract he signed with the Bruins back in 2019. On the flip side, Pettersson, 27, and Zibanejad, 33, have six and four years remaining on their respective eight-year, $92.8 million and eight-year, $68 million extensions with the Canucks and Rangers.

Signing Coyle as a free agent would be the easiest of the three to pull off, though the upside of Pettersson or Zibanejad is much higher, despite the risk of taking on their contracts along with the acquisition cost required to make either deal happen.

That said, Toronto does have some salary cap space to play with this summer, and for a player like Pettersson specifically, you may never be able to buy lower on such a talent than right now.

Next: Insider Suggests McDavid, Matthews Futures Could Soon Come to a Head