The Toronto Maple Leafs were over $12 million dollars beyond the NHL’s salary cap limit before using the LTIR.
After the Toronto Maple Leafs announced that goaltender Matt Murray is out indefinitely and would be placed on long-term injured reserve (LTIR) earlier this week, the roster picture became much more clear.
Murray, who likely won’t play this season, will be joining Jake Muzzin on the LTIR and the team will still need to clear $2 million in cap space.
As it currently stands, the Leafs could be cap compliant come opening day by running a 20-man roster.
Clearly that isn’t good – you don’t want to have to move players into the minors and play shorthanded to start the season. Ideally teams should have spent as close to the cap as possible, but leave some space for roster flexibility later in the seasons.
Currently, there are many different combinations that could be made, like running with 12 forwards and six defencemen or 11 forwards and seven defencemen. Inside of those arrangements, there are many different players that can occupy those spots.
This is especially true of the Leafs bottom-six which saw much turnover this off-season. This could open spots up for young players like Matthew Knies and Nick Robertson (who are players the team should be counting on anyways) as well as other young Toronto Marlies forwards who are itching for a crack at a regular spot in the NHL.
So, let’s take a look at some of the different arrangements and line combinations that can be made within the Leafs cap constraints.