Artificial intelligence predicts the Maple Leafs' next Stanley Cup victory

The Toronto Maple Leafs have yet again had to endure an early exit from the playoffs, as they lost to the Boston Bruins in 7 games this past season.

While Leafs GM Brad Treliving has been tinkering with his team during the offseason, looking for the recipe for success, we really cannot determine how successful the moves he made will be until games are being played.

With the additions of Chris Tanev, along with Stanley Cup Champions Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Anthony Stolarz, the Leafs are better than they were last season, at least on paper. But how close are they to actually winning a Cup? That seems like a loaded question.

According to @Marcussi on Instagram, A.I. has picked the Maple Leafs to be the 2026-27 Stanley Cup champs.

For a franchise that has not won a Cup since 1967, it seems like a stretch that they'd go from exiting in the first round this past year to a Stanley Cup win in such a short time, but this projection from A.I. actually makes a lot of sense as well, for a few different reasons.

First, captain John Tavares' mega deal, paying him an AAV of $11M will be long gone by the 2026-27 season. Another reason is that young players in Toronto, such as Matthew Knies, Fraser Minten, Easton Cowan, and even Ben Danford will have experienced a lot of development over the next few seasons and could be key contributors by then. Also, if Joseph Woll continues on his development curve, his $3.66M AAV may also look like a steal by that point in time.

With the extra cap space the Maple Leafs will get by the 2026-27 season, the sky is the limit. The added cap will play a major role in the team to be able to target high-end free agents and ink key internal pieces to valuable contracts.

Another reason that this could come to fruition is the internal growth from guys like Auston Matthews, William Nylander and even Mitch Marner, if he's still in Toronto.

The contention window is wide open for the Leafs. There's a real opportunity for them to do some damage over the next few seasons. It's just a matter of what they do with it at this point.

The Source: NHL.com
Toronto Maple Leafs Website