How Much Cap Space Do the Toronto Maple Leafs Have?
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.
Opening Night
Dermott and Hyman are both expected to miss time at the beginning of the season. It’s completely reasonable to believe the duo could miss the entire first month of the year, which would open up more possibilities for Dubas to work with if the Leafs chose to place them on LTIR.
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If Dermott and/or Hyman are expected to miss 24 days or 10 games, they are eligible to be placed on LTIR, creating a bit more space for the Leafs to work with if necessary. As it stands for the opening night of the season, Toronto would have just under $10.5 million to work with to sign Mitch Marner or make any other additions with the duo on LTIR.
Again, this projection comes before the expected trades of Zaitsev and Brown. It is a near guarantee that the Toronto Maple Leafs will create more cap space in the coming days.
Unless the Leafs want to throw the likes of Jeremy Bracco and Timothy Liljegren into the fire, play Kasperi Kapanen on his off wing, and play Trevor Moore in the top nine, Dubas will have to make additions to this lineup before the start of the season.
For the offseason, the NHL allows clubs to exceed the salary cap by 10% as well, which could give the Leafs even more room to make additions or match an offer sheet if one were to be signed.
To recap, this is what the Toronto Maple Leafs have to work with:
- Offseason Space with Horton, Hyman, Dermott on LTIR: $18,592,801
- Offseason Space with Horton on LTIR: $17,247,801
- Opening Night Space with Horton, Hyman, Dermott on LTIR: $10,422,801
- Full Strength/Hyman & Dermott not on LTIR: $9,097,801
dark. Next. Zaitsev Still on the Block
Needless to say, the Toronto Maple Leafs have some room to work with for now. With Mitch Marner still to sign, additions still to be made, and players to be sent out the door, expect a lot of these projections to swiftly change in the coming days.