The Toronto Maple Leafs barely made the grade in The Athletic’s assessment of all 32 teams’ salary cap management.
In a review of all 32 teams' salary cap situations published on August 6, the Leafs ranked 15th with a B grade. Not a B+ or an A-. It was a B. While not bad, after all, I got Bs when I was in school, it’s not the sort of grade fans want to see.
Looking at The Athletic’s individual contract assessment, it’s a slew of bad contracts that have held the Leafs back. Here's a telling appraisal:
"But there’s a big difference between the Leafs and the NHL’s contending class and that’s the lack of many great deals. The Panthers, Lightning and Hurricanes all sit in the league’s top five for contract efficiency while the Leafs sit closer to the middle. For a team with championship aspirations, that disparity is not ideal."
So, let’s start from backwards to forwards. Let’s look at the bad contracts and move on to the good ones.
Last season’s trade deadline acquisitions Scott Laughton and Brandon Carlo are slightly under a positive surplus value. Laughton’s contract shows a negative surplus value of $700K while Carlo’s negative $800K. That’s not good, but it’s not awful.
Then, Steven Lorentz, Max Domi, and Dakota Joshua all show negative surplus values, with William Nylander’s being the worst among the forward group with a negative surplus value of $6.6 million.
Surprisingly, David Kampf’s contract, while ranked the worst with a C- grade, shows a negative surplus value of $3.2 million. The thing that makes Kampf’s contract a dud is its 7% positive value probability.
Now, let’s move onto the defensive core. Jake McCabe, Chris Tanev, and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, interestingly, all have positive surplus value. However, Simon Benoit and Morgan Rielly have negative surplus values. In particular, Rielly shows a negative surplus value of $5.3 million with a 35% positive value probability. As such, Rielly’s contract gets a C.
All told, if the Leafs could chuck Kampf and Domi’s contracts, the Leafs’ cap management would drastically improve.
Looking at Maple Leafs’ best contracts
The Toronto Maple Leafs’ best contract is John Tavares. Tavares’ new contract got an A. It’s not hard to see that as Tavares took a hefty discount to stay in Toronto. Also, Matthew Knies gets a solid B+ as he too signed for less than he could have gotten on the open market.
The goalie tandem is truly eye-opening. Anthony Stolarz and Joseph Woll combine for $12 million in positive surplus value. Specifically, Woll has a $7.7 million positive surplus value.
Ultimately, the Maple Leafs are in relatively decent shape. While the club’s cap situation could be better, there aren’t any awful or shackling contracts. Brad Treliving has done a good job of avoiding costly albatrosses.
Beyond David Kampf’s contract, the Maple Leafs did very well to avoid mortgaging the farm for Mitch Marner this summer.