The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed 24-year-old forwards Jacob Quillan to one-year contract extensions, and 24-year-old defender William Villeneuve to a two-year contract extension.
🖊️ We’ve signed forward Ryan Tverberg & forward Jacob Quillan to one-year contracts, while defenceman William Villeneuve has signed a two-year contract
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) July 8, 2026
Tverberg will be making $850,000 in the NHL and $250,000 in the AHL, with $350,000 guaranteed. He will require waivers to be sent to the Marlies. Despite being 24, this contract will expire with Tverberg as a Group-6 UFA instead as an RFA unless he plays in 78 NHL games next season. Tverberg scored 15 goals and 36 points in 63 regular season games, plus 6 goals and 14 points in the 24 games of the Marlies Calder Cup run. He was 5th in scoring for the Marlies last season.
Quillan's contract is very similar to Tverberg's at the NHL level and was posted on Monday. Quillan will make $850,000 in the NHL and $350,000 in the AHL, with $375,000 guaranteed. Quillan is waivers exempt for one more season or after 46 NHL games, whichever comes first. He will be an RFA with arbitration rights next summer. Quillan led the team in points per game last season (36 in 40 games) while splitting time with the Leafs where he played 23 games. He battled injuries in the playoffs, but the organization knows what they have in him.
Villeneuve signed a two-year contract but I'm going to take a wild guess and say it'll be somewhere in the neighbourhood of $850,000, plus or minus a dozen thousand. I expect this contract to be in line with the one they penned the similarly aged Cole McWard to, or Marshall Rafai last summer. Villeneuve led the Marlies in power play points last season (14, all assists) and was 2nd in points in the playoffs. Villeneuve requires waivers this season. He will either be an RFA with arbitration rights at the age of 26 when this contract expires.
Villeneuve is a good example of what power play minutes does to the point totals of defenders, because at even strength in the regular he's just behind Chadwick in points per game and well behind Benning and Thrun. The takeaway here is that points don't matter, they are not an analysis tool for defenders. Points are a record of events occuring, but the sign of a good defender is their ability to prevent events on the other side of the ice. Points only tell a shadow of half a story.
Villeneuve got a three-game cup of coffee on the Leafs last season and he's a right-shot defender, both of those facts will put him on the radar at training camp. Not for a regular job, but for an injury call-up. Villeneuve, Philippe Myers, and McWard will be the Leafs options, especially if they want to keep Danford in one place for the season.
Congratulations to the Toronto Marlies, your 2026 Calder Cup Champions! See you at the banner raising! Only Henry Thrun, Dennis Hildeby, and possibly Alex Nylander won't still be in the org next season.
SEE YOU THERE 🏆 pic.twitter.com/2jHzhSGghR
— Toronto Marlies (@TorontoMarlies) July 8, 2026
