Maple Leafs Salary Cap Issues are Significant
While the Toronto Maple Leafs’ recent signing of defenceman Morgan Reilly to a long-term contract may have, on the surface, securing the services of one of their more prominent and core players for the time being, there is also a significant downside to the move. Indeed, locking up the star rearguard to an eight-year, $60-million deal has backed the team into a corner for the remainder of this season and for seasons to come.
And sorry, Leafs fans, your team hasn’t performed well in the corners for decades now. And this is precisely one of the main reasons that a Stanley Cup parade has taken taken place in Toronto for over a half-century now
Even prior to Reilly inking a new deal to remain in Toronto, the combined salaries of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares and William Nylander soaked up more than half of the $81.5 million in salary cap space that all NHL teams are allowed. And heading into the off-season, the Leafs will have perhaps $20 million available to fill out their roster with another 17 players. Good luck with that.
The Leafs could very well be in salary-cap trouble for seasons to come as NHL powers-that-be expect the salary cap to increase by $1 million to $82.5 for the 2022-23 season. This would leave the Leafs meagre cap space with just five players signed. On top of all this, Toronto starting goaltender, Jack Campbell, a former Windsor Spitfire, will be an unrestricted free agent after the current season and is widely-expected to command a multi-year deal anywhere between $4-5 million per season. Campbell is making a palatable $1.65 million for the 2021-22 NHL season.
If Campbell was already making in salary this season what he is likely to command for seasons to come, it’s highly unlikely that he would be wearing a blue and white uniform right now. With so such little cap space available for thew Leafs in 2022-23 and beyond, there will be a few lower-priced but also less-skilled role players signed to fill out the roster.
Among the problems the Leafs will encounter as the trade deadline nears and for off-seasons to come is is finding a suitable trade partner – another NHL team that wants and or needs one of the Leafs high-priced players and who has cap space themselves to take on the large salary. Teams might want someone like Tavares or even Matthews – blockbuster trades involving players of their calibre do happen occasionally -but these teams will have to fit the incoming player’s salary into their own pay structure. Not every team can afford to bring in a guy who is making $10 million. And of course if the Leafs are shipping out out of the star players, they will be looking for a similarly high end talent in return. Or, perhaps more likely, shipping out a top end guy will signal the Leafs’ rebuilding process.
In the end, while the Toronto Maple Leafs do have some highly-skilled player, their current salary structure not only for this season but for the foreseeable future does not easily allow for those half dozen stars to be supported by a top-notch supporting cast.. Don’t expect Lord Stanley’s trophy to be making a long-overdue return to Toronto anytime soon.