How much cap space do the Maple Leafs have in the 2024 NHL offseason?
This season, the Toronto Maple Leafs have shown us that they are a step behind the Boston Bruins and the Florida Panthers. For a team looking to finally return to the Eastern Conference Championship Round after so many short-lived playoff appearances, sans last season, general manager Brad Treliving must find a way to bring in perhaps one more puzzle piece.
Treliving will have decisions to make in the summer of 2024, as when you look at the Leafs lineup, you will notice that players like captain John Tavares and alternate captain Mitch Marner are eligible for extensions this offseason. Tavares, 33, shouldn’t get an eight-figure AAV, unlike Marner. But if these extensions occur this summer, that will put a dent into their current amount of cap space, which sits at nearly $21 million.
Depending on whether Treliving decides to extend players like Tavares and Marner this summer is a storyline to watch. But there is also a potentially inevitable extension for goaltender Ilya Samsonov, who has come around and played outstanding hockey down the stretch.
Maple Leafs need to address defense, goaltending, potential extensions
The good news is that the extensions for Tavares and Marner, should Treliving decide both are sticking around, can wait throughout the summer and into the 2024-25 season. Samsonov’s extension cannot, if Treliving is interested in keeping him in Toronto.
Simply extending just Samsonov for the moment would be the better option for Toronto’s general manager since he must still address the blue line, adding at least one, if not more, quality players to the rotation. Should that occur, the Leafs may contend for one of the top two spots in the division next season and maybe even the top overall seed in the Eastern Conference.
The cap space should be there for Treliving, so it’s all about what he decides to do when the summer months roll around. But it could be an exciting time for Maple Leafs fans everywhere if he makes the right decisions.
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