The Toronto Maple Leafs like all teams in the NHL want to plan out their future on certain players. However until they get more clarity on a couple of fronts, that won’t be an easy thing to do.
On the latest episode of 32 Thoughts, Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek discussed the Maple Leafs and their desire to sign both Michael Bunting and Conor Timmins to new deals. As part of that conversation, the question came up about how much the team would sign them for. Would they be for as low as possible given the cap situation?
This is where things get dicey for the Maple Leafs. How can they make any long-term commitments without knowing some key information? They can’t. The factors influencing this far outweigh everything else. There are two important questions to consider. Where is the salary cap going? And how much will it take to re-sign Auston Matthews?
The Salary Cap Conundrum
Various reports have suggested the salary cap might go up by just $1 million to $83.5 million for the 2023-24 season. Where it goes after that is anyone’s guess. So long as revenues continue to trend in the right direction, there is reason to have some cautious optimism about where the cap will land.
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But until the Maple Leafs know what will happen, they are stuck. They can’t commit a bigger number to Bunting until they know what kind of space will be available to them. The same could be said for Timmins. The same can be said about anyone else on the team that needs a new deal.
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This also extends to other plans the Maple Leafs would normally have. This includes both the 2023 and 2024 trade deadline and offseason free agency. To say that cap space is tight isn’t giving it enough justice.
We have written numerous times in this space how the core-four model could have its financial drawbacks. It’s the ultimate commitment to this core. As such, the rest of the roster must be filled in with a lot of league minimum deals.
Having the cap go up by just $1 million is not good for the Maple Leafs. Their roster decisions will be directly impacted by the limited growth. But even if the cap sees noticeable growth for 2024-25, the team has one singular focus on their mind by then. Sign Matthews.
Matthews the Biggest Priority
It’s the rest of this season and then all…
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