Maple Leafs vs. Senators Preseason Split-Squad Lineups: Nearly Full NHL Team Set For Action in Toronto

See more MLHS in Google Add MLHS as a preferred source + Add

The Maple Leafs’ split-squad preseason rosters are now available for their games against the Senators in Ottawa and Toronto. In the final exhibition warmup, the Leafs’ NHL opening-night lineup, except for their fourth-line forwards, will dress in Toronto.

A few notes:

• You can watch the game in Toronto on Sportsnet One. The game in Ottawa can be seen on TSN4 in the Leafs’ viewing region or TSN5 in the Senators’ viewing region. 7 p.m. EST puck drop.
• Didn’t take long for the persistent Troy Stecher to force his way from the outside looking in to a leg-up on a spot in the opening-night lineup, assuming he can cement it with his performance next to Oliver Ekman-Larsson in Toronto tonight. As Anthony wrote after the game in Montreal, Stecher arguably had the best night of the three undersized defensemen competing for the #6 spot (Emil Andrae, Nick Blankenburg, Stecher). He led some nice breakouts, broke up some plays, and was solid defensively while logging 21:24 alongside Dakota Mermis, who also fared well. Blankenburg played a whopping 24:47 and flashed some of his puck skills and mobility, particularly on the PP (which he won’t touch in the Leafs’ full NHL lineup), but he wasn’t as clean defensively. Andrae played just 17:46 in Toronto.
• It remains to be seen whether the Rielly-Raddysh pairing is a complementary fit and viable overall — a major storyline to watch in this final preseason game, as Rielly did not play in the Montreal games but will play tonight. They have one exhibition here to find some chemistry. It is worth noting this is the first time in a long time the Leafs have had true handedness equilibrium between lefties and righties with all of their defense healthy, and that really should, in and of itself, help them break pucks out a little more seamlessly. Defensemen can receive pucks on their forehands, face up ice more naturally, and make cleaner first passes without needing to turn pucks from their backhands to their forehands under pressure, which only further complicated the life of the Leafs’ blue line throughout 2025-26.
• We’ll be looking to see if the Tavares and Matthews lines can win their five-on-five minutes more decisively in this game now that they’ve had a preseason game to shake off some rust and find a little bit of their timing and chemistry. The Matthews line, in particular, was outshot 7-2 at five-on-five against the Habs. Neither found the scoresheet, despite some good looks for Matthews and McKenna, in particular, on each line. Both of these lines will want to see one go in the net before the real action starts in six days’ time.
  I
  This morning, head coach Jim Hiller concurred with wanting out of the Matthews unit, despite some dangerous looks for Matthews off the rush: “I didn’t think they spent enough time creating in the offensive zone, which they need to do. If you’re going to play on the top line, you’ve got to create offensive-zone time as well. You can’t just be a rush line; you have to have both elements. I think the line, as it is structured, should, so I’m looking for them to be better tonight as three.”
• Dakota Joshua is again not on either roster and has been skating with the Marlies’ group. He ended last season injured, has started this camp injured, and now appears to be on the outside looking in. We’ll see what the organization plans to do here roster-management-wise, but with two more years on his contract at $3.25 million AAV, Joshua appears to be in a spot where John Chayka could send him through waivers (he’ll almost certainly clear) and open up some extra flexibility. Bo Groulx, for instance, would require waivers to be sent down and would be at some risk of being lost to a claim after what he showed for the Marlies and the Leafs last season.
• Here is the projected Senators lineup for the game in Toronto vs. the Leafs’ A squad:–
  I
  Forwards
  Burakovsky-Stützle-Batherson
  Amadio-Pinto-Tomasino
  Patterson-Daoust-Hodgson
  Elinas-Olsen-Halttunen
  Nemec
  I
  Defensemen
  Kleven-Yakemchuk
  Bolduc-Matinpalo
  Harrington-Kyrou
  Eliasson
  I
  Goalies
  Merilainen
  Parsons
• Here are the Senators’ lines for the game in Ottawa vs. the Leafs’ B squad:I
  I
  Forwards
  Eklund-Cozens-Zetterlund
  Cousins-Halliday-Giroux
  Blais-Greig-Boucher
  Montgomery-Suzuki-Bourgault
  I
  Defensemen
  Chabot-Stanley
  Hamara-Toure
  Hutton-Crotty
  Andonovski
  I
  Goalies
  Ullmark
  Ersson