With the Matt Murray trade finalized and qualifying offers made or not made, the offseason cap space is clear. There is a huge amount. During the offseason, which begins Wednesday, the salary cap is increased by 10% to allow teams to shop and fix their team structure later. The Leafs could go all out in Vegas and sign Claude Giroux, then try to fit in by Oct. 11, when official rosters are due. They won’t, but they could.
A plausible look at a projected roster for next year is what CapFriendly lists on its site throughout the offseason. It’s a projection, it’s not the plug space. The Leafs can make any number of moves by October to structure the roster. At the moment, CF only lists 17 players on their roster, so don’t cite the cap space listed there as gospel.
With the caveats in mind, here’s both the actual offseason space and a projection for next season:
Maple Leafs Cap Space July 12, 2022
| Last name | Cap Hit (or eligible offer) | Days in the NHL If round trip | Cap reached on a pro rata basis | Projected list |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Last name | Cap Hit (or eligible offer) | Days in the NHL If round trip | Cap reached on a pro rata basis | Projected list |
| One-way contracts | ||||
| Auston Matthews | 11,640,250 | 11,640,250 | 11,640,250 | |
| John Tavares | 11,000,000 | 11,000,000 | 11,000,000 | |
| Mitch Marmer | 10,903,000 | 10,903,000 | 10,903,000 | |
| William Nylander | 6,962,366 | 6,962,366 | 6,962,366 | |
| Alex Kerfoot | 3,500,000 | 3,500,000 | 3,500,000 | |
| David Kampf | 1.5 million | 1.5 million | 1.5 million | |
| Michael Bunting | 950,000 | 950,000 | 950,000 | |
| Wayne Simmonds | 900,000 | 900,000 | 900,000 | |
| Kyle Clifford | 762,500 | 762,500 | 762,500 | |
| Joey Anderson | 750,000 | 750,000 | 750,000 | |
| Morgan Rielly | 7,500,000 | 7,500,000 | 7,500,000 | |
| Jake Muzzin | 5,625,000 | 5,625,000 | 5,625,000 | |
| TJ Brodie | 5,000,000 | 5,000,000 | 5,000,000 | |
| justin holl | 2,000,000 | 2,000,000 | 2,000,000 | |
| Timothy Liljegren | 1,400,000 | 1,400,000 | 1,400,000 | |
| Marc Giordano | 800 000 | 800 000 | 800 000 | |
| Matt Murray | 4,687,500 | 4,687,500 | 4,687,500 | |
| Two-way contracts | ||||
| Rodion Amirov | 925,000 | 0 | 0 | |
| Roni Hirvonen | 856 667 | 0 | 0 | |
| Nick Abruzzese | 850,000 | 0 | 0 | |
| Max Ellis | 838 750 | 0 | 0 | |
| Curtis Douglas | 837,500 | 0 | 0 | |
| Dmitry Ovchinnikov | 835,000 | 0 | 0 | |
| Braeden Kressler | 835,000 | 0 | 0 | |
| Ty Sees | 835,000 | 0 | 0 | |
| Pavel Gogolev | 834 167 | 0 | 0 | |
| Alex Steves | 834 167 | 8 | 33,367 | |
| Holmberg Bridge | 827,500 | 0 | 0 | |
| Mikhail Abramov | 810,000 | 0 | 0 | |
| Nick Robertson | 796,667 | 21 | 83,650 | |
| Semyon Der-Arguchintsev | 766 667 | 0 | 0 | |
| Bobby McMan | 762,500 | 0 | 0 | |
| Carl Dahlstrom | 750,000 | seven | 26,250 | |
| Topi Niemela | 856 667 | 0 | 0 | |
| Mikko Kokkonen | 846 667 | 0 | 0 | |
| Axel Rindel | 838 750 | 0 | 0 | |
| Guillaume Villeneuve | 835,000 | 0 | 0 | |
| Filip Kral | 810,000 | 0 | 0 | |
| machollowel | 750,000 | 5 | 18,750 | |
| Joseph Woll | 766 667 | 6 | 23,000 | |
| Erik Kallgren | 750,000 | 1 | 3,750 | 750,000 |
| Eligible offers | ||||
| Pierre Engval | 1,250,000 | one way | 1,250,000 | 1,250,000 |
| Rasmus Sandin | 874 125 | 195 | 852 272 | 874 125 |
| Contracts: | 43 | 20 | ||
| Rollover bonus | 212,500 | 212,500 | 212,500 | |
| Total: | 97,865,620 | 78 384 155 | 78,967,261 | |
| Salary cap | 82,500,000 | 82,500,000 | ||
| 10% overrun | 8,250,000 | |||
| Total: | 90,750,000 | 82,500,000 | ||
| Cape Space | 12,365,845 | 3,532,739 |
Off-season space exceeds $12 million, leaving all roads open this summer.
The projected list I used includes the RFAs, Pierre Engvall and Rasmus Sandin, at their eligible bid amounts. They will probably get raises. The roster is 20 players: two goalkeepers, likely to be replaced by a different and more expensive number two than Erik Källgren; seven defenders; 11 forwards. I just used all the one-way contracts to make up the futures numbers, but some of those names will change and the caps might go up a hundred thousand here or there. There is $3.5 million to do all of this.
The Leafs must choose at least 21 players who fit under the salary cap, and that leads, as always, to the decision on 12 forwards and seven defensemen or 13 forwards and six defensemen. There are no exemption-exempt defenders on the above list. There are also waiver-exempt futures contracts.
There are potential forwards still exempt who can be kicked out to allow another player to come in with a short-term injury, and that may be what gets them NHL jobs off the grid. camp. These decisions are well advanced, once the agreements have been finalized and the list of 50 men established.
For now, there is also plenty of contract space, as number 43 includes two players who will be in junior hockey and will not count, as well as the two RFAs who have not yet been signed. There’s plenty of room for Kyle Dubas to sign deals with AHL players in the NHL in the coming days to replenish his ranks of recalls they’ll never use.
It doesn’t take long to use all $3.5m to upgrade forwards and sign RFAs. It’s very hard to imagine this team not going to lose someone to fill every need, but who it may well depend on who they sign in free agency, and if they want space to apply. waiver in October when the goaltenders are free.
Until the next signature, these are the numbers.
