Can the Toronto Maple Leafs Afford Nylander and Matthews Extensions?

Earlier this week Carlo Colaiacovo stated on TSN Radio that the Toronto Maple Leafs and Auston Matthews appear to be days away from a contract extension.

The deal would come with a cap hit for the Toronto Maple Leafs of roughly $13.5 Million.

Colaiacovo stated on 1st Up “It is my understanding that an Auston Matthews deal is going to happen any day right now.  Nobody knows the exact date, but the expectation is that it’s happening and it will be anywhere between three and five years; and it’s going to range between $13 and $14 Million depending on the term”.

If Matthews is signed, all the focus will go to getting William Nylander signed to an extension and if the Maple Leafs cave to the $10 Million request from the winger’s camp, the team will be adding nearly $24 Million to the 2024-25 salary cap.

A big question is whether or not the Maple Leafs will be able to afford those two contracts for the 2024-25 season and what things will look like.

Can the Toronto Maple Leafs Afford Extensions?

I believe the Toronto Maple Leafs will be able to handle these deals, especially if the salary cap rises to $88 Million like it is expected to do.

If both those deals are signed, the 2024-25 roster would look like the following:

Forwards ($53.978M):
With the current make up of the team, they would already have five of their top six forwards under contract, which along with Nylander and Matthews would be John Tavares, Mitch Marner and Matthew Knies.

Behind those two, the bottom six would be filled by Pontus Holmberg, Calle Jarnkrok, David Kampf and Ryan Reaves, with hopes that Nicholas Robertson would finally had solidified himself as a third line winger with an estimated contract around $1 Million.

This would leave the Leafs still needing a top six forward, which could be potentially filled with an extension of Tyler Bertuzzi, along with one or two fourth line wingers.  Ideally two so they could push Reaves to a 13th forward role.

Defense ($13.1M):
The defense would need a bit of work as they have just a couple players signed.  Jake McCabe is a very good defenseman and has just $2 Million against the cap.

They have one top pairing defenseman already in Morgan Rielly and would have one of the bottom pairing roles taken by Conor Timmins who would still be under contract at just over a million per year.

Timothy Liljegren will be due for a raise, but would still be a restricted free agent.  At that point of his career he is either a second pairing defenseman or they have moved on.  With an estimated raise to $2.5 Million for the former first round pick, that would have the team allocating $13.1 Million to the back end.

Ideally the team would go after a top pairing defenseman, as well as needing just a bottom pairing defenseman.

Goalie (767K)
We are hoping that Joseph Woll has at minimum earned the role of a 1B goaltender that can start at least 35 games, which would be quite the luxury as he would be making close to the league minimum.

Ilya Samsonov is now entering a one-year deal that makes him an unrestricted free agent at year end.  The Toronto Maple Leafs will likely have decided to lock him up long term or cut bait by January.

With what the clubs has entering next off-season, they should have roughly $21 Million to fill out the roster.  With the assumption that it will likely cost $11-$12 Million to re-sign Samsonov and Bertuzzi, you are left with just $10 Million for a top pairing defenseman and a 2-3 depth players.

While this is not ideal, the Maple Leafs could make it work for the 2024-25 season, especially since Tavares’ $11 Million comes off the books after that year.