#1. They’re Not Up Against the Salary Cap
There were a number of things said during everyone’s press conferences, but this has to be one of the more interesting comments:
Kyle Dubas: "We're not up against the cap, contrary to everyone's belief."
— Kristen Shilton (@kristen_shilton) August 12, 2020
Although, I can agree with Dubas’ comments because they’re not at the cap-ceiling right now, am I missing something?
The Leafs projected salary cap for 2020-21 season is $76.9 million, which means they have about $4.5 million for eight roster spots. Even if all eight of those players make the league minimum, there’s not enough money to spare.
Pierre Engvall and Jake Muzzin already got a raise (roughly $2 million between them) and if the Leafs wanted to re-sign Ilya Mikheyev, Travis Dermott and Kyle Clifford, all three of them would be expecting raises too.
The team has too many players making big numbers, so in order to solve the issue that Dubas doesn’t think he has, he’s going to have to make a few trades.