Toronto Maple Leafs: Circumventing The Salary Cap

The Toronto Maple Leafs have pushed the envelope when it comes to shedding money off their salary cap.

By now most are aware of the comments by Joffrey Lupul regarding his health status. This situation opened up a can of worms for the Toronto Maple Leafs, who have used the long-term injured reserve to rid themselves of bad contracts. While this is within the rules if the players are really injured, Lupul has raised some doubts that people already had dating back to Stephan Robidas.

They have obtained the cap flexibility to help the current team; by seemingly using their financial muscle to pay guys like Lupul to go away. Although it seems shady, the practice in relative terms is legal; however, it’s quite weird that no other team in the National Hockey League has opened their mouths to complain.  This could imply the Leafs have done nothing wrong and that this is all speculation.

Perhaps other teams have skeletons in their closet that they’d like to keep in there; nonetheless, the NHL appears to be stepping in. Through the help from an independent doctor, they’ll conduct their own medical to evaluate whether or not Lupul is healthy enough to play.

For the past two years, Toronto has made players like Stephan Robidas, Jared Cowan, Milan Michalek, Brooks Laich, and the aforementioned Lupul disappear. A part of it is due to their financial strength, which has helped them get out of bad contracts.

For example, David Clarkson’s deal; Toronto was able to deal a player a who might play again for one (Horton) who never would because the Clarkson contract was insured and the Horton contract wasn’t.  So the Leafs got out of possibly having to roster Clarkson because they could afford to pay the real money of an uninsured contract.  Nothing illegal here, but it shows how the team can use their finances in ways other teams can’t (which is what the salary cap was invented to prevent).

Leafs Loopholes

Toronto seems to have circumvented the rules to get out from bad contracts; however, other teams around the league haven’t had much luck. The Los Angeles Kings are a prime example being unable to unload horrific contracts. Two contracts stick out like a sore thumb, those of Dustin Brown and Marian Gaborik.  But both are capable of still playing, so it’s a dicey situation.   You get the feeling if they were on the Leafs they’d have career ending injuries.

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Don’t Hate The Player, Hate The Game

Toronto has sped up their rebuild through drafting and a bit of luck. They’ve hit on their first-round draft picks and tanked to win a lottery which led to them drafting Auston Matthews. Tanking and using the odds to win a lottery has changed their fortunes.

The newfound fortunes shouldn’t detach from the fact that the front office bent the rules to shed money off the cap. Not necessarily a bad thing, though. Toronto is using all the means provided to better to better their team.

Shanahan knew nothing about the cap, so he brought in a capologist from inside the league. He didn’t know how the league operated, so he hired a guy someone like Lamoriello; who knows the ins and outs. The  Toronto Maple Leafs knew they had to get its hands dirty to get rid of contracts and they brought in the right guys for the job.

Next: Top Five Leafs Ready to Crack Lineup

The thought of Clarkson’s, Lupul’s, and Phaneuf’s contracts on the books is the stuff of nightmares. The Toronto Maple Leafs did have to eat on money on the Kessel deal, but they’ve shed all bad contracts. Whether it be using their financial muscle or using loopholes, they’ve mastered the game.