Toronto Maple Leafs Best Options for Salary Cap Relief
The Toronto Maple Leafs are just under two million dollars over the salary cap.
In the NHL, you can be over the salary cap by up to 10% during the off-season, so this is not an immediate problem for the Toronto Maple Leafs, but one that they eventually will have to deal with.
The Leafs may be maxed out, but they are one of the best teams in the league, and they have spent their money wisely and so they have a lot of options for proceeding from here.
The Leafs have Jake Muzzin, Alex Kerfoot, Justin Holl, and TJ Brodie making a combined $16 million dollars. All of these players are above average NHL regulars (with Brodie still technically performing like a star) who can help the Leafs now, but who also may be expendable in the right circumstances.
That is the very definition of flexibility.
But let us say that the Leafs want to get a little crazy. Let’s say they have their sights set on Patrick Kane, and are going to galaxy brain something with double retention and a third team.
Who then would they turn to? (All info capfriendly.com).
Which Teams Could Potentially Offer Salary Cap Relief?
Over half the NHL’s 32 teams are within a million dollars of the salary cap.
While that sounds bad, assuming the price of salary cap relief is directly related to how many teams there are that can offer it, you must keep in mind that the cap numbers aren’t that realistic right now.
A lot of teams will have players who count against the cap today, but who will move to the long-term injured reserve when the season starts. Some trades will happen, players will be injured, cut, traded and waived.
When all is said and done, every team will be at or under the cap, and most teams will have some wiggle room.
The teams that will have the most cap space are Arizona, who currently have $20 million available.
The Sabers and Ducks are the only two other teams with over ten million to spend.
Detroit, Chicago, Ottawa, Dallas, Minnesota and the Jets have between five and ten million to spend.
So all told, there are nine teams with significant cap space that may be willing to help out other teams who need to bury money.
Ottawa may be an interesting up-and-coming team with money to spend who have a horrible blue-line and would definitely be improved by Jake Muzzin, who I still think the Leafs should and will get rid of.
Next. 6 Burning Questions for the Leafs. dark
That said, getting any team to take money when so few teams can could prove expensive. The bottom line for the Toronto Maple Leafs is that they do have a lot of potential flexibility.