Toronto Maple Leafs Get Within an Impressive $4 of Salary Cap

The Toronto Maple Leafs have submitted their opening night roster, and they have gotten below the salary cap – by four dollars.

According to the amazing salary cap website capfriendly.com, the Toronto Maple Leafs have submitted a roster that is almost to the exact dollar of the salary cap.

The good news here appears to be that John Tavares is healthy and ready to go for the start of the season.

The Leafs, as you most likely know, were well over $2 million above the cap since signing Calle Jarnkrok earlier in the summer. 

Toronto Maple Leafs Are Cap Compliant

Clearly, with the uncertainty of the preseason (team chemistry, player performance, injury etc.) the Leafs are looking to maintain maximum flexibility, as opposed to making any hard, permeant choices like trading someone from the roster (Alex Kerfoot, almost certainly). 

 The Leafs start the season with Timothy Liljegren and Carl Dahlstrom on the LTIR, which allows them to be cap compliant.

The salary cap is complicated, but as I understand it, when a team doesn’t have anyone on the LTIR they accumulate space to use later, so using the LTIR is never ideal. A minor drawback, but a drawback nevertheless.

A second downside to this move is that the team isn’t dressing it’s best roster. Nick Robertson has one of the best shots in the NHL, he’s the kind of hardworker whose attitude is contagious, and he earned a job in the NHL.

Whenever a guy earns a job and doesn’t make the team, it a huge negative. Merit should trump everything, even asset management. Robertson made the team and now he’s not on it and that is a bad look.  However, it’s extremely temporary and is hardly worth being upset over.

The Leafs cannot live on the razor’s edge of the salary cap for long, so they will figure some stuff out sooner than later, and Nick Robertson will play most of the year in the NHL, where he belongs.

The upside of Denis Malgin is interesting, but he is not the longterm solution in the top six and this is really just a waste of everyone’s time. Ultimately, who cares if you lose Denis Malgin on waivers? Just play the best lineup and don’t overthink it.

I personally think it’s a huge mistake to demote Nick Robertson, but it’s also one of those things that happens after training camp, lasts about a week, and no one remembers it later.

I highly doubt we’re going to see Denis Malgin explode for 40 goals and be a star player, but then again, who saw Michael Bunting doing that last year?  It is certainly possible the Leafs know what they are doing here.

Maybe Malgin is a keeper. I doubt it, but who knows?  I still couldn’t even tell you why this team has Jake Muzzin or Alex Kerfoot on it still, but it does.

The Leafs are salary cap wizards, no doubt.  But they have only put off making decisions, and they have not solved the problem of an overstuffed roster that is much too expensive.  More moves will come.  The Leafs are one of 2 teams at the 50 contract limit, and no team wants to stay there for long since it eliminates flexibility, which clearly the Leafs value.  Expect a couple guys to leave the organization this week due to this.