Maple Leafs Have Big Decision to Make With Matias Maccelli

Tuesday, April 28, 2026
Toronto Maple Leafs forward Matias Maccelli reacts during 2026 game.

Matias Maccelli's first season as a Toronto Maple Leaf did not go according to plan for anyone involved.

The 25-year-old winger was acquired from the Utah Mammoth last summer for a conditional third-round pick that carried a chance to become a second-rounder if Maccelli reached 51 points and the Maple Leafs qualified for the playoffs.

Neither condition was met.

Maccelli finished with 14 goals and 25 assists in 70 games, and the Maple Leafs ended the season 32-35-14 with a second-last finish in the Eastern Conference, one of the worst years in modern franchise history.

Despite all of it, Maccelli told Luke Fox of Sportsnet exactly where he wants to be next season.

"I want to stay in Toronto. I love the city and love the guys and everything about it. So I would love to stay," Maccelli said. "It's like the biggest hockey city there is in the world, and the most recognizable team, and the fans and the city and everything about it. It's just great."

The Finnish winger was healthy scratched for nine straight games between late November and mid-December, tumbled down the lineup after starting on Auston Matthews's wing, and posted a minus-22 rating that reflected how little Craig Berube trusted him defensively throughout the year.

His start percentage in the defensive zone was 35.5 percent, a career low, because Berube avoided putting him in those situations.

The Case for Keeping Him

The production rate argument in Maccelli's favor is stronger than the surface numbers suggest.

Among Maple Leafs forwards this season, only William Nylander, John Tavares, Matthew Knies, and Auston Matthews posted a higher points-per-60 rate than Maccelli, which puts him in pretty elite offensive company on a per-minute basis.

His best stretch came in March following the Olympic break, where he posted four goals and eight assists across 15 games and looked closer to the player who put up 57 points in 82 games with Arizona in 2023-24.

"It's all about opportunity," Maccelli told Fox. "You get a little more ice time and you start feeling better with the puck, without the puck, and you start playing better and feel more comfortable. I've just got more trust from the coaches in the second half."

Berube acknowledged the improvement while noting the inconsistency that made the relationship complicated all season.

"He went through a real good stretch there not long ago where he was doing some real good things," Berube said. "He's got to get back to that. I think it's dropped off a bit lately, but we need him to be a point producer for us."

The Decision the New GM Has to Make

Maccelli is one of four Toronto RFA forwards with arbitration rights this summer, alongside Nick Robertson, Jacob Quillan, and Ryan Tverberg.

The Maple Leafs cannot re-sign all four with pay raises, which means the incoming GM will have to make choices quickly after taking the job.

The qualifying offer for Maccelli sits at $4.11 million, a raise from his current $3.425 million deal, and represents the floor option that keeps him from becoming a UFA without committing to a longer term.

A long-term extension would need to be negotiated before June 30 if that is the preferred route.

The organization is still sitting with a couple decisions from last summer, when the Maple Leafs elected not to qualify RFAs Alex Steeves and Pontus Holmberg.

Maccelli is a smallish, defensively limited winger with offensive upside that has shown up in flashes, which puts him in a category the Leafs already have with Max Domi and Robertson.

Whether Toronto decides it has room for that archetype at $4-plus million is the question that will decide what happens to him this summer.

Photo Credit: Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

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