Toronto Maple Leafs Are Setting Themselves Up Nicely For Next Year

The Toronto Maple Leafs signed Andrea Borgman to a one year contract extension today.

Borgman joins recent signees Garrett Sparks, Calle Rosen and Trevor Moore as NHL ready players all signed to cheap contracts for at least next season by Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas.

To say that the Leafs salary cap situation next season has been a topic of heavy discussion this year would be an understatement.  The Leafs entered the season by needing to sign their three franchise forwards, after having just given John Tavares $11 million dollars.

In addition to that, the Leafs suddenly developed two more very good top six NHL forwards who they also have to pay before next season.  For the Leafs, the problem is how do they fit all their good players under the salary cap without losing any of them?

Kyle Dubas said he would, but the almost universal response from the hockey world was that he couldn’t.

In signing four young, NHL ready players for next season for under a million dollars each, Kyle Dubas has taken a great step towards pulling off what everyone pretty much said was impossible.

Next Season’s Cap

In addition to  Borgman, Moore, Rosen, and Sparks, the Leafs already have Frederick Gauthier (who has proven the doubters wrong by becoming a decent NHL player) and Travis Dermott on entry-level contracts next season, as well as Justin Holl at $675K

You can also pretty much assume they’ll sign the recently acquired Nic Petan to a similar short-term extension in the coming days or weeks.  I would also put heavy money on the same thing happening with Igor Ozhiganov, especially since he’s right handed.

Timothy Liljegren and Rasmus Sandin, both on ELCs, will be given every opportunity to make the NHL next season, as will point-per-game AHL scorer Jeremy Bracco, a right winger who gives the Leafs the option of moving Kadri and using Nylander at centre.

All together you have:  Sparks, Dermott, Gauthier, Moore, Rosen, Holl, Borgman, Sandin, Liljegren, Bracco, Petan and Ozhiganov.

That is a solid twelve players that the Leafs have who are all going to capable of playing in the NHL next season.

How it Works

The plan is to pay your highest plaid players what they’re worth, and fill out the rest of the roster with cheap players.

This strategy is born out of the realization that, in the NHL, especially with the elimination of enforcers and slow stay-at-home defenseman, there are really only two kinds of players: First Liners and everyone else.

Of course there are subtle differences between players, but the only time there is a big gap between players is between first liners and everyone else.  The gap between Auston Matthews and a decent second-line player like is huge.  The gap between that player and someone like Connor Brown is not.  It exists, it’s just isn’t as big.

Therefore, if you put your money in the top of your lineup and use players you can pay at replacement-player levels, you will be spending your money in the most efficient way possible.

Whether or not this strategy will work is something we’ll find when and if the Leafs sign all their players and still ice a winning team.

The Leafs have already signed Matthews, Tavares, and Nylander.  Before July 1st, they will re-sign Mitch Marner, Andreas Johnsson and Kasperi Kapanen.

In order to do this, they’ll rely on most of the twelve players above to play in the NHL next season in order to replace Ron Hainsey, Connor Brown, Nikita Zaitsev, Jake Gardiner.  That’s roughly $13 million in cap savings, and they can expect the cap to go up another $5, giving them $18 million to sign Marner, Kapanen and Johnsson.

With 12 low-cost NHL options, the Toronto Maple Leafs should have no problem keeping the core of their team together.

And if they have some success this spring and keep their team together, people might just have to start acknowledging that Kyle Dubas is a pretty good GM.