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Toronto Maple Leafs Loaded With Sub-Million Dollar Depth

By James Tanner

DALLAS, TX - MAY 05: Dallas Stars center Jason Spezza (90) tries to put the puck in the net during game 6 of the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs between the St. Louis Blues and the Dallas Stars on May 05, 2019 at American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX. (Photo by Steve Nurenberg/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
DALLAS, TX - MAY 05: Dallas Stars center Jason Spezza (90) tries to put the puck in the net during game 6 of the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs between the St. Louis Blues and the Dallas Stars on May 05, 2019 at American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX. (Photo by Steve Nurenberg/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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The Toronto Maple Leafs have an objectively great roster.

The salary cap was thought to be the barrier that the Toronto Maple Leafs couldn’t overcome, but GM Kyle Dubas all but blew that barrier into smithereens.

By unloading Marleau, Brown and Zatisev, and taking

a pass on Ron Hainsey, the Leafs GM cleared over $15 million from the books.  (Cap infor from capfriendly.com).

But to supplement the Leafs insane roster of elite players, Kyle Dubas as smartly stocked the team with a bevy of players who cost a million or less..

It is clear that he is operating the Leafs on the Studs and Duds cap-philosophy (pay your potential first-liners and sign everyone else on the cheap).

Whether or not it works out remains to be seen, but it’s certainly an interesting and original way to go about building a team.

Million or Less

Last year when it became clear that the Toronto Maple Leafs were going to be into cap trouble this season, Kyle Dubas made a series of signings that were meant to help out during the 2020 season.

He signed Andreas Borgman, Calle Rosen, Nic Petan among others to cheap extensions.

And of course so far this year he has signed Jason Spezza, Nick Shore and Kenny Agostino.

Here is the full list of players the Toronto Maple Leafs have who are a) capable of making the team and b) signed for under a million dollars.

  1. Trevor Moore
  2. Nic Petan
  3. Kenny Agostino
  4. Jason Spezza
  5. Frederik Guathier
  6. Calle Rosen
  7. Ben Harpur
  8. Martin Marincin
  9. Justin Holl
  10. Michael Hutchinson
  11. Garret Sparks
  12. Ilya Mikheyev
  13. Andreas Borgman

That is one hell of a list of options.  In the NHL there is only a marginal difference between the best non-first liner and the absolute worst player in the league.

That means that spending money or term on depth players is one of the dumbest things a team can do.  The Toronto Maple Leafs know this and so they’ve stacked their team with players who can either make the Leafs, sit in the pressbox, or play in the AHL at basically no cost to the team.

This is why the Leafs can and will have three players making over ten million dollars.

Additionally, here is a list of players on their Entry Level Contracts who can also help this year, maybe.

  1. Travis Dermott (obviously in the NHL)
  2. Jeremy Bracco
  3. Jesper Lindgren
  4. Timothy Lilegren
  5. Rasmus Sandin
  6. Josephy Duzak
  7. Mac Hollowell
  8. Mason Marchmant
  9. Pierre Engval

Now, most of those guys aren’t likely to make the NHL in 2019-20, but they probably could do so in a pinch.  (And Liljegren, Bracco, Sandin are probably all ready).

Next. Leafs 2018-19 Player Grades. dark

The point here is that while the Leafs have lost Brown, Hainsey, Zaitsev and Marleau, they haven’t really made their team any worse.  If anything, being able to spend that money more intelligently will make them better.

The sheer amount of capable NHL depth the Leafs have at this point is staggering.

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