NHL website might have accidentally leaked the next Maple Leafs signing

The website is the least interesting part of this.

The listing is a legacy tag. His player page has carried Maple Leafs branding for years because that is where his numbers peaked, not because anyone in Detroit or Toronto forgot he signed with the Red Wings in July 2025.

Here is the fact that actually moves this story. That Detroit deal is done, and van Riemsdyk has been an unrestricted free agent since July 1, still unsigned three weeks into the market.

He is 37, but he is not washed. He scored at his usual clip in Detroit last season, another double-digit-goal campaign from a winger who has posted double-digit goals almost every year of his career.

Toronto has a new decision-maker with zero loyalty to the roster he inherited. John Chayka took over as general manager in May and hired Jim Hiller in June, and neither built the forward group they now have to fix.

That group lost Mitch Marner this summer. Matias Maccelli and Nicolas Roy were reasonable additions, but no one in Toronto has replaced the scoring, and analysts have spent July telling Chayka to add a forward.

A cheap veteran who still buries chances is exactly the patch a thin lineup needs. The nostalgia angle writes itself, but the roster logic is what would actually close the deal.

Look at who sits beside van Riemsdyk on the unsigned list: Patrick Kane, David Perron, Adam Henrique. Productive names, no contracts.

The late-July market for aging scorers has collapsed, which is why a 20-goal winger is available for pennies.

Toronto is one of the few teams with both the need and a front office unafraid to use it.

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