The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced their 26-player roster for the 2026 NHL Prospect Challenge at Centre Slush Puppie in Gatineau, Quebec.

The headline attraction is obvious: First-overall pick Gavin McKenna is set to pull on a Maple Leafs jersey in game action for the first time.

McKenna is one of five members of the Leafs’ 2026 draft class participating in the tournament, joining Alexander Bilecki, Brody Pepoy, Patriks Plumins, and Cooper Williams.

McKenna headlines a roster featuring 15 forwards, eight defensemen, and three goaltenders. The Leafs will play twice in Gatineau, opening against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday evening before facing the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday afternoon.

Maple Leafs 2026 Prospect Challenge Schedule

Four selections from the 2025 draft—Rylan Fellinger, Tyler Hopkins, Tinus Luc Koblar, and Harry Nansi—are also on the roster, along with 2024 picks Ben Danford, Miroslav Holinka, and Timofei Obvintsev, and 2023 sixth-round selection Noah Chadwick.

The remainder of the roster includes seven players signed to NHL contracts—Vinny Borgesi (noted Keith Pelley favourite), Brandon Buhr, Luke Haymes, Hayes Hundley, Landon Sim, Blake Smith, and Borya Valis—as well as AHL-contracted players Sawyer Boulton and Ryan Kirwan.

Sebastian Charvat, Matyáš Man, Parker Vaughan and Nic Whitehead will attend as free-agent invitees. Man (20 years old, LD, Prince Albert) and Vaughan (18 years old, RW, North Bay) both participated in the Leafs’ development camp earlier this summer.

Beyond McKenna, Koblar is one of the more interesting names to monitor in Gatineau. The 2025 second-round pick is coming off a head-turning performance against professional men at the 2026 World Championship, where he scored six goals and 10 points while helping Norway reach its first-ever semifinal. His toolsy package of size, skill, and skating down the middle is easy to dream on.

After signing his entry-level contract in June, Koblar told Swedish outlet HockeySverige that he believes he has a chance to play in the NHL this season—and indicated that the Leafs believed so as well—while acknowledging that he needed a big summer to improve his chances. Ahead of a compressed preseason, the prospect tournament is a first opportunity to show how seriously that possibility should be taken.

On that note, this tournament arguably carries a touch more urency than usual this September. With the Leafs playing only split-squad games against Montreal and Ottawa during a shortened preseason, any individual prospect will have a maximum of two opportunities to face NHL competition before the regular season kicks off. For McKenna, Koblar, Danford, Haymes, and any other prospects with a remotely realistic chance of seeing NHL minutes either immediately or maybe later in the season, the games in Gatineau represent an opportunity for a head start and to make an impression before training camp begins in earnest. There will not be much runway afterward.

New Toronto Marlies head coach Steve Sullivan will oversee the Leafs’ prospect team alongside the Marlies‘ staff: Mark Giordano, Denver Manderson, Greg Moore, Hannu Toivonen, and Nick Biamonte.

The Leafs’ prospects will practice at Ford Performance Center on Friday, September 11, before departing for Gatineau.

Maple Leafs 2026 Prospect Challenge Roster

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