How Much Cap Space Do the Toronto Maple Leafs Have?
By Kyle Cushman
Much has been made about the Toronto Maple Leafs and the salary cap for what feels like a lifetime.
The impending cap crunch. How can the Toronto Maple Leafs afford Auston Matthews, William Nylander, John Tavares, AND Mitch Marner? We’ve heard these storylines time and time again.
The NHL salary cap is one of the most confusing and complex things in all of sports. Whether you’re discussing long term injured reserve, the accruing of cap space, restricted free agency, or a whole host of other topics, it can quickly become a headache.
The salary cap and Toronto’s current projections are vital to the team based on the Leafs current situation. With Andreas Johnsson and Kasperi Kapanen‘s contract extensions becoming official on Friday, the lone NHL quality restricted free agent the Leafs still have to sign is Mitch Marner.
With Marner yet to sign and free agency quickly approaching, it’s important that all Leafs fans truly grasp the current situation and what general manager Kyle Dubas has to work with.
A Fully Healthy Lineup
First, let’s examine what a full strength Toronto Maple Leafs lineup currently looks like with the players under contract (or in Marner’s case, the rights to).
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With a fully healthy roster and no UFA additions or trades off of the roster made, the Toronto Maple Leafs have slightly over $9 million in space.
Because I know many will point out Garret Sparks‘ appearance over Michael Hutchinson, the Leafs would save $50,000 on the cap if Hutchinson were to be the backup instead of Sparks.
This lineup would be tight to the ceiling when Marner signs. We do know that this won’t be what the lineup looks like on opening night, though. Toronto will sign free agents and we still expect to see one or both of Nikita Zaitsev and Connor Brown traded.
Still, this gives a quick look into what the Toronto Maple Leafs have to work with at this very moment. There’s work to be done, but the status of Travis Dermott and Zach Hyman creates a question mark for two prominent positions in the lineup for Game One of the season but could also create more cap space for offseason shenanigans.