TFC locker clean out day: Optimism abound, but lots of hard work ahead
This off-season will be one of the most important in Toronto FC's history after it failed to make the playoffs for a fifth straight year.
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It's become an all-too familiar refrain from Toronto FC.
After a 2025 MLS season that saw TFC yet again fail to make the playoffs, management has acknowledged that the previous 12 months weren't good enough and that changes have to be made if the team hopes to be competitive next year.
We've heard this exact same blunt assessment after each of the previous four MLS campaigns. Now for the fifth straight year, TFC faces the most important off-season in franchise history. Will things be different this time?
Toronto FC's traditional end-of-year media availability, otherwise known as locker clean out day, offered a glimpse of what could possibly come in the next few months. Tuesday's event was the last chance that TFC Republic and its media colleagues had to grill GM Jason Hernandez, coach Robin Fraser, and several players about the club's dismal 2025 campaign and the importance of the upcoming off-season.
Here are the main talking points from Tuesday.
Jason Hernandez: 'We feel quite optimistic"
Toronto FC (6-14-14, 32 points) finished the campaign in 12th place in the Eastern Conference, dropping from 11th in 2024 when it finished with a 11-19-4 record and 37 points.
Saturday’s 2-0 home decision over Orlando City was only Toronto's sixth victory of the year, as it just barely beat out its 2012 season win total when it went 5-21-8. Its only campaign with fewer victories came in 2023 when it went 4-20-10.
While last weekend's win allowed the Reds to end the year on a bright note, it shouldn't be mistaken as the dawn of a new positive era. It’s going to take much more than that for this franchise to turn around its fortunes. An overhaul of the Reds' underperforming roster has to take place this winter, otherwise they run the risk of a sixth consecutive year without a playoff berth to show for it.
At the same time, GM Jason Hernandez sees light at the end of the tunnel with regards to TFC getting back to winning ways
"Considering the last two months, albeit not enough wins for our liking, we're proud of what the team was able to do as far as trying to create a base for us to build upon to move forward; as far as being together and competitive and resilient and all the things that we want our teams to look like; working for each other, both with the ball and against the ball," Hernandez explained.
“We feel quite optimistic that we're beginning to see some of the fruit of a lot of hard work of the first team staff and of the players, who committed to each other and committed to the ideas of trying to build something, and be some of the pieces that we can we can look forward to next year and, hopefully be to start something special."
New DP forward tops Hernandez's to-do list
You don't need three guesses to figure out what Jason Hernandez's top priority will be in the off-season.
Toronto is coming off an offensively anemic season in which it scored just 37 goals in 34 games (tied for third-worst in MLS with Austin FC), for an average of 1.09 goals per match. Theo Corbeanu was TFC's top scorer with six goals, while Deandre Kerr (four goals) was the team's only forward to score more than once.
Toronto desperately needs a DP striker – a No. 9 with a proven track record as a consistent goal scorer, who can spearhead the attack and serve as the main reference point up top.
"It's certainly not lost on us that in MLS, most of the teams that are seeing sustainable success have a guy at the striker position who delivers week in and week out. And for too long, unfortunately, we haven't had that. There's a few reasons behind that, but really, the most obvious reason was just considering the resources in the DP space and what we didn't have access to, as far as those discretionary monies," Hernandez said.
"And now for us and being afforded this opportunity in this landscape to invest in this way, we certainly are looking forward to the opportunity to add a DP striker, and what that would mean, as we've seen, in a lot of clubs in MLS, certainly what it's meant to this club in our strong years and our successful years, and so that'll certainly be a top priority."
He later added: "I would say we have already worked through a long list [of DP candidates], and we're operating through the short list. There's folks currently in the scouting group that are out in markets, watching matches, meeting folks at this moment."
Also on Hernandez's wish list are any players, regardless of their position or profile, who he believes can help improve the roster.
"I don't believe that there's a portion on the field in which we shouldn't be looking to strengthen and bolster, right? So, even though, considering our defence was able to put up some pretty strong performances as far as goals against in the Eastern Conference, the right type of profiles – mentality, characteristics in the back line, midfield, wide position, the attack – are going to be things we're all focused on and improving," Hernandez said.
John Molinaro
Contract option, loan decisions loom large for TFC
This is expected to be one of the busiest off-seasons in Toronto FC’s history.
One reason why is that 14 players are now in the option years of their contracts, which means Jason Hernandez has a lot of important decisions to make in terms of who to bring back in 2026 and who to cut loose.
The 14 players are: Nate Edwards ($86, 604 US salary in 2025), Derrick Etienne Jr ($745,566), Kobe Franklin ($135,802), Nicksoen Gomis ($80,622), Malik Henry (salary unknown), Sean Johnson ($1,063,125), Deandre Kerr ($125,319), Kevin Long ($468,521), Hugo Mbongue ($146,427), Raoul Petretta ($854,750), Sigurd Rosted ($805,000), Charlie Sharp ($80,622), Kosi Thompson ($125,260) and Jules-Anthony Vilsaint ($131,875).
Hernandez also has to decide the futures of Canadian international Theo Corbeanu and Swiss midfielder Maxime Dominguez. Both players are at the end of their respective season-long loan deals which included purchase options for TFC.
Hernandez will have until Nov. 26, per the deadline set by MLS, to decide about the team's contract option players. But he revealed those decisions have already taken place.
“Obviously, the week after the final match [of the season], we have a series of things we need to do in house, between medicals and meetings and conversations, so that'll be transpiring this week. But we are aligned on the next steps for the roster of personnel,” Hernandez said.
John Molinaro
Robin Fraser: The culture has changed at TFC
There's no denying the fact that this was a failure of a season in terms of results for Toronto FC.
The club failed to make the playoffs for a fifth straight year, while also bowing out of the Canadian Championship at the first hurdle. The club also registered just six wins and picked up a modest 32 points while finishing 12th in the East, which represented a backwards step from 2024. Two wins and 14 points (out of a possible 39) from the final 13 games was hardly an ideal way for Toronto to end the campaign.
But coach Robin Fraser saw plenty of silver linings down the final stretch of the season. For starters, his players began to really take on his philosophy. His team also showed great resolve and became much tougher to beat, as evidenced by taking points off of five playoff-bound teams in the Supporters' Shield champion Philadelphia Union, Lionel Messi and Inter Miami, Columbus Crew (twice), Chicago Fire and Orlando City.
The Reds found new levels of mental resolve that was sorely missing over the previous four years, a sign of the culture change that's taken place at the club, according to Fraser.
“For me, the path to sustained winning is through a culture. Not speaking about anything that existed before I got here, my focus, certainly this year, was about getting the culture where I think a winning team needs to be, which is a place of unselfishness, hard work, togetherness, commitment, things like that,” Fraser offered.
“And I felt like we took steps forward in that direction. And based on the way the season finished, the second half of the season, the way the season finished feels like a really good place to start next year. The key for us is to make sure that we start right where we left off.”
John Molinaro
Jonathan Osorio: 'A tough season for many reasons"
Captain Jonathan Osorio has experienced a lot of highs and lows during his 13 seasons at Toronto FC.
The 2025 campaign was one of the toughest during his tenure, as the club failed to produce results on the pitch. A poor start to the year that saw the Reds collect just four points from their opening eight matches and having to wait until April 19 to secure their first victory put them in a hole that was difficult to climb out of, according to the veteran midfielder.
"It was a tough season for many reasons, but I think the group right now that's here this season, I can say there's proof to be optimistic for next year. I think there's a good foundation and there's reason to be hopeful [for] next year," Osorio said.
Considering the team only managed to secure six wins (and only two since July 16) on the season, you'd expect Osorio to be more pessimistic.
But he felt the club came together during the final 10 games of the season, which saw it draw eight in a row (a new MLS record) and be competitive against some of the best clubs in the league. That also gives him hope for next year.
"Listen, we didn't make the playoffs, and it's disappointing. So, we didn't reach our goal, and that's disappointing. But I think we can say with the results that we've had in the last few games, we became a hard team to beat, and that's positive. In the last game [against Orlando], anything like that, it's also a positive and it gives hope. It gives hope for next season. I hope the club is now in position to begin a new era, a new project, and get things going in the right direction," Osorio stated.
John Molinaro
Possible changes to pre-season camp?
Toronto FC had to deal with a number of injuries in 2025, especially during the early part of the year when it seemed players were dropping like flies.
One theory as to why is because the club spends a portion of pre-season camp training on grass in a warm weather city, while also coming back to Toronto and practising on an artificial surface underneath a bubble at the BMO Training Ground.
Former coach John Herdman felt that switching between the two climates and surfaces made players more susceptible to injuries and he felt all pre-season camp should take place in warm weather locations. Herdman even advocated for the team being based out of warm weather city for the first few weeks of the regular season, rather than in Toronto.
“We have looked into that. We're likely to adopt some version of that … It’s something that, unfortunately, a handful of clubs have to manage, specifically early in the season; is just the climate and our ability to train on the surfaces we prefer, and how often we need to do so. And so that's something that we have looked into. And I believe there's going to be some modifications,” Jason Hernandez said.
John Molinaro
Odds and ends: Extra GAM from Longstaff, Flores deals
- Toronto could receive an extra $2 million in GAM next season should it decide to stick with the 2 DPs/4 U22s model over the 3 DP roster model (full explanation here). Jason Hernandez revealed TFC haven't yet made a final decision about which model they will use. MLS teams have to declare which model it will adopt for 2026 prior to the start of the season. Hernandez said: "It’s nice to have the ability to do both. … What I feel very positive about is our ability to do either. And so, we have the capability to acquire two [DPs], we have the capability to acquire one and monitor how it goes and be ready again in the summer."
- Hernandez said the club is in a much better salary cap position compared to when he took over as GM in 2023: "[It’s] uncharted territory as far as how flexible [of a situation] we put ourselves [in],”
- Hernandez didn't offer any substantive information on how the 2026 World Cup would affect Toronto's season schedule. Hernandez said: "I do have a bit of a sense [of the changes], but I don't know how much of it is public or not, so I can't really speak to that."
- MLS free agency begins in December. TFC didn't go after any free agents last winter for the second straight year after signing Sean Johnson, Matt Hedges and Shane O'Neill in previous years. Hernandez said: “I believe we're going to be evaluating all the different [MLS] mechanisms. That's end-of-year waivers and re-entry draft and free agency in a real way, because we find real value and importance in [them].”
- Hernandez confirmed that Toronto will receive an additional $50,000 US in general allocation money as per the terms of the Matty Longstaff trade to CF Montreal this summer.
- Per league rules, teams receive 95 per cent of transfer fees for players to non-MLS teams (the rest goes to the league) and can convert up to $3 million of the transfer revenue into GAM. Hernandez revealed that TFC have converted the proceeds of this summer's transfer of Deybi Flores to Saudi club Al-Najma SC into GAM.
- Captain Jonathan Osorio was one of five TFC players made available to the media on Tuesday – Richie Laryea, Luka Gavran, Alonso Coello and Djordje Mihailovic also faced questions. At last season's locker clean out day, Osorio was the only player who spoke to reporters.
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Important off-season dates to remember
Aside from the Nov. 26 league deadline to decide on contract options for some players, there are several other important dates this off-season that Toronto FC has to abide by when it comes to rebuilding its roster for the 2026 MLS campaign.
MLS free agency begins on Dec. 10. Free agency eligible players are out-of-contract and option-declined players who are at least 24 years old and who have completed a minimum of four years of service in MLS.
The MLS re-entry process kicks off on Dec. 11 with stage 1, while stage 2 is on Dec. 17. Essentially, this applies to MLS players who are out of contract (or had their option declined) but are not eligible for free agency.
The end-of-year waivers process also begins on Dec. 11. The waiver process pertains to players whose options were not exercised and who are not eligible for free agency or the re-entry process.
The 2026 MLS SuperDraft will be held on Dec. 18 and will consist of three rounds.
(Top photo by Lucas Kschischang/Toronto FC)
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