Toronto Maple Leafs: The Casualties of the Cap Crunch

In the matter of 14 1/2 months, the Toronto Maple Leafs handed out approximately $40.5 Million worth of cap space to four players starting on July 1, 2018.

The first signing came on July 1, 2018 when the Toronto Maple Leafs enticed the biggest free agent to ever hit the open market to take a discount to come home when John Tavares signed a seven-year deal worth $11 Million per season.

Five months after Tavares, after a long and drawn out contract dispute, William Nylander agreed on a six-year deal worth just under $7 Million per season.

Just over two months later, the organization and Auston Matthews worked out a five-year deal worth $11.6 Million that was signed on February 5, 2019.  The last deal of the “Core Four” was completed when Mitch Marner signed early into training camp on September 13, 2019 for just over $10.9 Million on a six-year deal.

Since the contracts had been signed there have been many to critique the contract because of how much of the cap space was allocated to four players as it has caused the club to move on from other players.

To be fair to general manager Kyle Dubas, who signed each of those deals there was no expectation that salary cap would go flat throughout the duration of these contracts that would cause the team to have to say goodbye to the some of their top players because of the lack of space to retain them.

The Leafs made this bets with a new TV deal, expansion, and legalized gambling on the horizon.  The pandemic forced the cap to freeze, but any reasonable person would have foreseen the NHL salary cap raising exponentially after the 2019 season.

Furthermore, the  Leafs were the 3rd best team in the NHL since signing those contracts and have won approximately 65% of their games, which, in any given year, is good enough to compete for the President’s Trophy, and were among the NHL’s deepest teams each year they entered the playoffs.

You can therefore argue that signing the “core four” was the correct strategy because, even with the flat-cap, the Leafs have been a top team ever since.

Regardless, the team has either had to let some of their long serving players walk in free agency or make trades to find room to dress a full line-up (and at times less than a full roster).

Here is a look at some of the players that had to leave and how their careers turned out once they left Toronto.

James van Riemsdyk

The Toronto Maple Leafs added James van Riemsdyk in one of, if not Brian Burke’s best trade while at the helm of the team.

The Philadelphia Flyers had signed JVR to a six year extension with a cap hit of $4.25 Million which took up just 6.6% of the cap which was to start in the 2012-13 season.  However, before he played a game under that deal, Burke acquired him straight up for Luke Schenn.

JVR would play all six years in a Maple Leafs uniform scoring 154 goals in 413 games which averaged out to 31-goals over an 82 game schedule.  He was a consistent contributor and owned the front of the net on the powerplay contributing with 42 goals with the man advantage over his six seasons.

He was just as productive in the playoffs scoring seven goals and 14-points in 20 playoff games with the Maple Leafs crest on his chest.

Unfortunately, like Bozak the Maple Leafs had to let JVR walk in free agency with the Tavares signing and the upcoming contracts that Leafs were going to have to sign with their three main young stars.

On the same day Bozak signed in St. Louis, JVR signed back with the Philadelphia Flyers on a massive five-year deal with a $7 Million cap hit.  This was the third contract that the New Jersey native had signed in his career, all of which were signed with the Flyers organization.

JVR’s contract just expired in Philadelphia and despite several injuries over four of the five seasons he was still able to find the back of the net.  During his second tour in Philadelphia, JVR averaged 25-goals over an 82-game span.

Through those five years, the Flyers were mostly in a rebuild and the former second overall pick played in the playoffs just once in five seasons.

It would have been ideal to keep van Riemsdyk at left wing over the years and he may have been able to get them over the hump the last few years, but it never happened

Most recently, van Riemsdyk signed a one-year deal in Boston for a $1 Million this past July to keep his career going.

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – FEBRUARY 14: Connor Brown #28 and Mitchell Marner #16 and of the Toronto Maple Leafs   (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Connor Brown

One of the best draft selections in team history was when the Toronto Maple Leafs selected Connor Brown with the 156 overall pick in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft.

Brown would play two more years in the Ontario Hockey League after the draft winning the OHL scoring title with 128 points in 68  games with the Erie Otters in 2014.

After a season and a half with the Toronto Marlies he forced a call-up late in 2015-16 during the tank season and recorded six points in seven games.

Brown was then part of the explosion of rookies in the 2016-17 season where he collected 20-goals in his rookie season playing a heavy amount of minutes next to Auston Matthews, while also jumping up and down the line-up.

Brown was due for a new contract after his rookie season and earned a three year deal worth $2.1 Million per season which looked like a steal around the league.

With all the contracts coming into place for the 2019-20, GM Kyle Dubas had to figure out a way to trim some of the Toronto Maple Leafs salary cap.  He was hampered by a horrible contract signed by Lou Lamoriello with Nikita Zaitsev which was for $4.5 Million per season and still had five years left on the deal.

Dubas was able to get the Ottawa Senators to take on the contract, however the cost was that the Maple Leafs had to send Brown to the nation’s capital.

Losing Brown hurt the team as he had a cap friendly deal and could play anywhere in the line-up.  He would go on and help the Senators through their rebuild years providing the team with a responsible example for the younger players to learn from.

After a 16-goal season in the final year of the deal, he earned a three year extension for $3.6 Million and collected 21-goals in just 56 games of the next season.

Brown has had his career derailed slightly due to injuries as he missed almost the entirety of the 2022-23 season, however received a contract from the Toronto poaching Edmonton Oilers this past off-season.

Brown will join former line-mate in Zach Hyman.

Kasperi Kapanen

The Toronto Maple Leafs acquired Kasperi Kapanen in their first real trade during the revamping of the organization in 2015, when the franchise traded their top player to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Toronto Maple Leafs traded Phil Kessel to the Penguins in an eight piece deal which essentially worked out as Kessel for Kapanen and a first round pick.

Kapanen would get his first taste of the NHL that first year in Toronto when he joined several rookies getting called up at the end of the season, however he was unable to record a point in nine games.

Unlike many of the other rookies, the Finnish forward spent the majority of the 2016-17 season in the minors as he dressed for just eight games during the regular season.  Somehow, Kapanen found a role on the playoff roster and had the biggest goal for the franchise in over a decade as he collected the overtime winning goal in Game 2 of the Washington Capitals series.

Kapanen would battle to stay on the Toronto Maple Leafs the next season, but by 2018-19 he became a 20-goal scorer and a top level penalty killer.  That upcoming summer, Kapanen earned a three-year extension worth $3.2 Million per season.

After just one-year completed in his three-year contract and the salary cap not moving, Kyle Dubas had to trade Kapanen to free up some cap space.

In what was the only cap relief related trade that the franchise got anything worthwhile in return.  In the deal, Dubas was able to acquire a first round pick, as well as one of the Penguins top prospects in Filip Hallander.

The first round pick was used to draft Rodion Amirov who sadly passed away this past summer after a battle with cancer.  Hallander would later be used in a trade in deal that had him go back to the Penguins for Jared McCann.

Kapanen would play out his contract scoring 22-goals in 119 games and earned an additional two-year contract from Pittsburgh for the identical $3.2 Million per season deal he made with the Maple Leafs.  However, after a half season under his new deal he was placed on waivers and claimed by the St. Louis Blues where he has one more year left on that contract.

With the Blues, Kapanen finished out the season with eight goals in 23 games to finish with his second 15-goal season of his career.

Andreas Johnsson

The Toronto Maple Leafs stole Andreas Johnsson in the seventh round of the 2013 NHL Entry Draft which happened because of a non diagnosed medical condition.

Some scouts felt that Johnsson was a lazy hockey player, but it was more to do with the lack of energy he had.  After being drafted by the Maple Leafs, he was sent to a doctor where he learned that he had asthma.

Once he figured out his health issue, Johnsson’s career took off from there to the point where he won the Calder Cup Trophy with the Toronto Marlies in 2018 and was awarded playoff MVP after collecting 24-points in 16 games.

In addition to his scoring prowess, fans enjoyed the energy Johnsson brought to each and every shift.  The Swedish winger earned a full time spot with the Maple Leafs the following year which resulted in a 20-goal rookie season finishing eighth in rookie of he year voting which just happened to be in a contract season.

Kyle Dubas rewarded Johnsson with a four-year contract days before free agency would hit that garnered a $3.4 Million cap hit.

Unfortunately for both sides, COVID hit that upcoming season that resulted in him collecting just 21-points in 43 games and the salary cap not moving.  Dubas had to find a way to get out from under a couple of contracts and six weeks after Kapanen was dealt to the Penguins, Johnsson was traded to the New Jersey Devils for prospect Joey Anderson.

Anderson would find production in the AHL, but could not translate it to the NHL and was included in the trade for Jake McCabe last deadline.

Johnsson had one decent season in New Jersey recording 35-points in 71 games during the 2021-22 season but found himself playing for the Utica Comets (AHL) for the majority of the 2022-23 season before being traded to the San Jose Sharks.

Most recently, Johnsson received a one-year contract for non other than Kyle Dubas who gave him a one-year, one-way contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins worth $800,000.

If Johnsson can’t make the Penguins who would require waivers to be sent to the AHL, but none of his contract would count against Pittsburgh’s cap space.

Zach Hyman

Many fans around the league will mock the Toronto Maple Leafs for losing Zach Hyman for nothing, but what they don’t realize is that they replaced him with a better player who made 5x less.  (Yes, it’s true, Michael Bunting’s two years in Toronto were better than any year Hyman had with the Leafs).

Hyman was drafted in the fifth round of the 2010 NHL Draft by the Florida Panthers, but after four seasons playing with the University of Michigan he decided he was not going to sign with the Panthers and would become a free agent.

Instead of losing him for nothing, Florida traded him to Toronto for Greg McKegg who has bounced around the league playing a total of 233 NHL games, but he would have never factored into the Maple Leafs.

Like many other players on the list, Hyman was a late season call-up for the Maple Leafs in 2015-16 and impressed coach Mike Babcock.

After the organization drafted Auston Matthews the following summer, Hyman found himself stapled to the league’s best scorer for the next five seasons.

Toronto Maple Leafs fans would fall in love with the Toronto native due to his tenacity on the puck and no fear in the corners work.  In his rookie season, Hyman would collect ten goals and 28 points then quickly signed a four-year extension for $2.25 Million per season.

During that contract, the children’s author would record back-to-back 40-point seasons and over the final three years of the contract he would average 28-goals over an 82-game schedule.

After the 2020-21 season Hyman became an unrestricted free agent and it appeared that their was mutual interest in coming back to Toronto, however the two sides couldn’t come close to what the Edmonton Oilers were offering.

With two major knees injuries to the hard-nosed winger, the city had to say goodbye to Hyman who signed a seven-year deal with the Oilers for $38.5 Million ($5.5 Million AAV).

Hyman has since showed the knee injuries are not to be concerned about and had his two best seasons of his career, including collecting 36-goals and 83-points this past year.  The power forward has became a powerplay specialist collecting15-goals and 26-points with the man advantage this past year.

In Edmonton, Hyman has become arguably their team’s fourth best player behind Connor McDavid, Leon Draisiatl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.  Over the span of his two playoff years in Alberta, he has been almost a point per game player.

Losing Hyman was the biggest hit to the Maple Leafs of all the players.

Jack Campbell

With the Toronto Maple Leafs struggling in the back-up goaltender position, Kyle Dubas went out and completed one of his best trades.

In February 2020, Dubas acquired goaltender Jack Campbell, along with Kyle Clifford for Trevor Moore and a pair of third round draft picks.

Campbell was in the final year of a deal that paid him $675,000, but he had already signed a two-year extension with the Kings that carried a cap hit of $1.65 Million.

When he joined the Maple Leafs, Campbell finally gave the team a steady number two goalie as he posted a 2.63 GAA and .915 save percentage in his six appearances before COVID shutdown the season for months.

He got even better in 2020-21 and due to an injury to Frederik Andersen, Campbell was able to steal the number one spot and finished the season with a 17-3-2 record, posting a 2.15 GAA and .921 save percentage and started all seven playoff games.

Going into his final year of his two-year deal there was a lot of talk about an extension with the Toronto Maple Leafs, but it appeared that the asking price from Campbell’s side was too long and for too much money.

Campbell had a very hot start to the 2021-22 season, registering a 12-4-1 record with a 1.64 GAA and .946 save percentage over the first 18 games which help lead to an all-star appearance.

It was obvious he could not keep up with his hot start, but Campbell dropped off dramatically as after November Campbell posted a 3.22 GAA and .896 save percentage in the final 31 games.

Dubas could not justify matching or coming close to the five-year deal that carried a $5 Million cap hit that was being offered by the Edmonton Oilers, so the former 11th overall pick followed Hyman to Alberta.

Campbell had a rough start to his first season in Edmonton as he would eventually lost his starting role to rookie Stuart Skinner and finished the season with a 3.41 GAA and .888 save percentage.

This was a deal that the Toronto Maple Leafs were thankful they did not match.

Overall, Kyle Dubas did quite well moving on from several of the players that the team could not bring back because of the salary cap.