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The Toronto Maple Leafs Fined for Breaking Travel Rules

By Stephen Nixon |
TORONTO, ON - OCTOBER 13: John Tavares #91, William Nylander #88, and Mitchell Marner #16 of the Toronto Maple Leafs set up a play prior to a faceoff against the Montreal Canadiens in an NHL game at Scotiabank Arena on October 13, 2021 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Maple Leafs defeated the Canadiens 2-1. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - OCTOBER 13: John Tavares #91, William Nylander #88, and Mitchell Marner #16 of the Toronto Maple Leafs set up a play prior to a faceoff against the Montreal Canadiens in an NHL game at Scotiabank Arena on October 13, 2021 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Maple Leafs defeated the Canadiens 2-1. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images)

The Toronto Maple Leafs broke the rules of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) on Tuesday, which cost them $100K, however it resulted in a win, so was the fine worth it?

Although it’s typical for a team to travel the night before a game, the CBA says that a team is not allowed to travel on December 26th, so it violated Article 16.5(b) of the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association.

$100K is a large fine, but at the end of the day, that’s pocket-change for the Leafs and MLSE. If the team lost the game and put up a terrible fight, then I’m sure the executives would be angry, but they secured the win in overtime.

So, with that $100K fine, it got me thinking about how much the team would be willing to pay for a win? That money doesn’t eat into the salary cap, so if they wanted to, they could break the rules every day and it wouldn’t really hurt the team, except for its bottom-line.

If $100K was a factor in them winning the game, then how much would they spend for an even bigger game than a random regular season road win?

How Much Would Toronto Maple Leafs Pay for Game 7 Win?

As we all know, the Leafs have struggled in Game 7’s or clinching games for the entire Auston Matthews Era. For whatever reason, the team hasn’t got the job, despite putting up a valiant effort.

If MLSE could pay their way to victory, especially in Game 7, what would that price be?

It’s obviously a hypothetical dumb question to ask because they could never actually pay for a win, but what would that number be?

If they would pay $100K for a regular season game, they’d have to pay at least 10X for a Game 7 win, right? Maybe even 20X that because of how much extra revenue it would bring in for a few Second Round home games?

In tickets alone, at $250/ticket average price, a Second Round playoff game would bring them roughly $5M in gate revenue and that doesn’t even count food/beverage and merchandise sales.

With a minimum of two home games in the Second Round, the Toronto Maple Leafs would have to easily pay $5M for a Game 7 First Round victory then right?

I think that would be a fair number for them to pay for a First Round series win, but what about a Stanley Cup? With all of that money already made throughout the playoffs, I feel like the Leafs brass would pay it all back in order for this team to win a Stanley Cup.

Would $50M be the number for Toronto? Maybe even $100M to guarantee a Stanley Cup?

Personally, I think that number would be infinite dollars because a Stanley Cup in Toronto would rectify all of the trouble that this team went through in the past and it would finally get the monkey off the back for the Toronto Maple Leafs executives and fans who have wanted this for so long.

Next. 3 Christmas Miracle Trades for Leafs. dark

The hockey market of the world needs to win, so if money could solve that, the Leafs would do it and fans everywhere would be appreciated of it.

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