Team Cap
Let’s take a quick glance at the Leafs cap situation and I’ll be referencing a previous article of mine throughout this upcoming part.
Slightly adjusted, however.
Once the season begins, $10.55 million will be coming off the books because of Nathan Horton and Joffrey Lupul’s LTIR.
That gives the Leafs more than enough to resign Brown.
After the 2017-18 season, all of the following players with their caps will also come off the books as of right now.
This could change depending on trades or if a player is resigned, but as it stands, this money will be freed up.
- Joffrey Lupul $5.25 million
- James van Riemsdyk $4.25 million
- Tyler Bozak $4.2 million
- Leo Komarov $2.95 million
- Eric Fehr $2 million
- Martin Marincin $1.25 million
- Dominic Moore $1 million
- Ben Smith $650,000
That’s a grand total of $21.55 million that’ll be off the books pretty soon.
Also, don’t forget to add in Tim Gleason and Jared Cowen’s buyout, which ends at the same time as well, bringing us to a total of $23,633,333.
Now, let’s look at our 2018-19 cap of $42,119,167 that’s tied up, including the salary retention for Phil Kessel at $1.2 million.
That’s the inclusion of all roster players signed for that year.
We’ll assume that the 2018-19 season will have a cap ceiling of $75 million, just to make things easy.
That gives the Leafs a grand total $32,880,833 to resign Matthews, Nylander, and Marner.
Do you think it can be done?
Well, if we add up my projected totals for those three plus Brown, we’re at a total of $29 million, with an estimated $3,880,833 left over.
So yes, the Leafs can afford all of those contracts.
Okay, but what can the Leafs use the left over money for?