Salary Cap: 11 guys signed next year at $65.5M CAP - $16M left for 12 guys

[JT AM da real deal]

And the Leafs' running the year without a single spare.

I think so. But we have not really seen it yet due to various injuries. The CBA is way to confusing. Written by Gary the lawyer. We have accountants and lawyers running teams to deal with it.

 

[SprDaVE]

The good news is that our entire top 9 core is pretty much locked up or cost controlled outside of Spezza essentially. The bad news is that our top 4 defence isn't.

So while it appears a little grim, I think the majority of the forwards can be filled up with ~700-900k players, so that means the Leafs can still re-sign or just trade/sign for a defenseman or two that would cost a little more. You never really want to spend much more than that for 4th liners or bottom pairing quality defensemen.

This also likely pushes Sandin and Liljegren into roles next season, and they are under 1M. We still also have Kivihalme, who did well at training camp. Of course upfront Engvall, Bracco and Korshkov could likely provide quality at a cheap rate. Right there, 6 players likely at or under 1M.

The other thing is that we can easily clear ~3.5M of cap space by trading one of Johnsson, Kapanen or Kerfoot if needed.

This isn't a GREAT problem to have but good teams generally are capped out.

 

[KuleminFan41]

What is likely going to happen is Ceci and one of Barrie or Muzzin are leaving, which opens up room for the promotion of Sandin and Liljegren for next season. Holl(675k) likely isn't going to be expensive to re-sign and Dermott(863k) gets a bridge at a relative low cost since he's an RFA, probably along the lines of 2x2. At the very least, the Leafs have 4 defensemen locked for next year in my opinion , Sandin, Rielly , Dermott and Holl with either Barrie or Muzzin returning being a question mark being a fifth, so the defence isn't that depleted . The bottom six isn't going to be that expensive either , the only player who will see any sort of significant increase(as it stands now) would be Ilya Mikheyev who is making 925k this season. Engvall, Gauthier , Timashov are all guys likely to make under 1 million and players like Petan, Shore and Spezza are replaceable. The outlook isn't that bad , I'm not saying the Leafs can get everyone nicely under the cap but its not as bad as people make it out to be. I do expect to see some trades but I'm not sure we'll see a blockbuster that people think is going to happen

 

[Canada4Gold]

First off it's 12 guys, CapFriendly has 10 plus the injured Marner and Moore

Trades: Johnsson and Hyman out, Colin Miller, picks and/or prospects in. HYman's UFA the following offseason so that's why I chose him
Cap Increase: to 85 million
That's 21.275 million to sign 12 guys for a 22 man roster.

Dermott and Mikheyev for 5.5 million combined.
9th-12th forwards for 3 million combined(Petan's the extra) - Pick 4: Bracco, Brooks, Korshkov, Agostino, Engvall, Timashov, UFA, etc
Backup for 700k( )
7th D for 700k(Holl? probably costs more as a UFA)
Liljegren and Sandin

Leaves 9.5 million for Pietrangelo

Mikheyev - Matthews - Nylander
Moore - Tavares - Marner
Engvall - Kerfoot - Kapanen
Korshkov - Brooks - Bracco
Petan

Rielly - Pietrangelo
Dermott - Miller
Sandin - Liljegren
Holl

Andersen
This Guy Sucks

That's a very solid D core IMO. Miller may be a bit of a wild card, but given he's being scratched in Buffalo probably doesn't cost much. He's also UFA the same time as Rielly so that tags Rielly's raise nicely as the only current UFA we have that year is Kapanen who we may want to keep. Not having a backup worth a salt will suck again, and we've bitten into the depth of the forwards a bit but I trust those Marlies and 2 of them are losing waiver exemption this offseason and Korshov is ready.

 

[Jozay]

Friedman speculates that the cap for the 2020-21 season could be 83.5-84.5.

Three reasons why the NHL salary cap could get tighter - Sportsnet.ca.

Went with 83 million cap. Bridge deals for both Dermott and Mikheyev.

Have 10 million to fill two D spots, backup goalie and 4th line C. Could put Engvall at 4C, could also bring Justin Holl back to fill a spot too.

I say move on from Hyman, and possibly one of Kap or Johnsson in a deal to get a top 4 D with a similar contract.

 

[Macman]

Are there any other LTIR guys out there who will never play again and who Dubas can acquire? It's gets a little tiring hearing all the time about how core guys will have to be sacrificed and it hasn't happened yet. The Leafs have been very good at using every inch of the CBA and their wealth to their benefit.

 

[I am Canadian]

Toronto 2020-21 - CapFriendly - NHL Salary Caps


Made this past off-season that kept Barrie, muzzin, Mango and Kapanen. It's already very out dated in terms of lines and pairings, but you get the point.

Honestly were sitting just fine. I have minimal concern for the cap

Edit: I like @diehardleafsfan9878 lineup a lot better. And he didn't even use a cap increase. Personally I'd alter his and sign Barrie instead of Demelo

There is no way Muzzin signs for 3.5

 

[Zybalto]

we're golden.

Holy run and gun.

That would be a fun team to watch but get ready to get destroyed on the forecheck the other way. PK would also be.....interesting.

So many options going forward though. I'm actually starting to wonder how Robertson might fit into the team sooner rather than later. He's looking like a helluva player.

 

[horner]

expect trades

Johnson or kappy maybe both

 

[Canada4Gold]

Please explain how the CAP goes up 2M next year? The players want to get the escrow holdback to ZERO. Unless owners and players can agree on some interim changes to CBA (which is possible) then the numbers don't work.
2022 I can't wait for it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The great Gary promise maybe delivered!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But I am from Missouri I will believe it when I see it. There have many many excuses over the years.

The players don't just decide the escrow number. There are other things that impact escrow other than the players election of the cap escalator. Like LTIR for instance, it allows teams to spend more which puts more in the players pocket which would increase escrow to get us back to a 50/50 split. So it's pretty much going to be impossible to get down to 0 escrow.

The thing that the players choose is what % of cap escalator to use. Up to a maximum of 5%. That artificially inflates the cap and the fix to that is a higher escrow which as you say the players don't like. Up until 3 years ago they chose the maximum of 5% every single year. They then decided to go to 1.5% for 2 years, and this offseason chose to only do 0.5%. What that means is the players don't have much choice left that has a negative side affect on the cap. They can go down to 0% escalator if they want but that's still less of a reduction than this past year. The point being the cap 3 years ago was 73. The players then chose to do 3.5% less on their cap escalator, yet the cap still went up 2 million to 75. This past offseason the cap jumped from 79.5 to 81.5 despite the players choosing to 1% less of an escalator(1.5% to 0.5%). The players have another 0.5% down to go but that's not much. After that any natural inflation the cap has would go unimpeded by the players choice of escalator because they wouldn't have any further down options to choose. The last time they didn't change the inflator the cap went up 4.5 million. They've only got 0.5% left to change.

Escrow isn't the problem with the NHL's salary cap, the players' lack of understanding is the real issue - TheHockeyNews

 

[I am Canadian]

This was my idea from another thread, if they can find a better option than Barrie I'm all for it.
It also gives us a good young goalie who can play more games then hutch and gives us options when Andersen's deal is up next year

 

[SprDaVE]

man Holl turning out to be a player has really changed the/my outlook on the dcorps going forward.

Rielly-Barrie
Dermott-Holl
Sandin-Liljegren

looks both really affordable and really good to me.

I'd give Holl an extension right now. 2-3 year deal between 1M to 1.5M.

Really hoping he sticks around.

 

[sxvnert]

Nothing to worry about. The expensive portion of the roster is already signed.

 

[Canada4Gold]

 

[KuleminFan41]

There is no way Muzzin signs for 3.5

While I don't think he'd sign for a marginal pay increase, Muzzin likely caps out at 5 even in the open market in my opinion. His style of play isn't exactly special and he's going to be 31 in February so he's not exactly in a great position to make a lot of money with his next contract. Wherever he signs for next season, I don't see it being longer than 3 years . Hopefully he signs with the Leafs but I'm unsure if he does, I think Barrie is the one the Leafs would rather keep if they had to choose

 

[Judas Tavares]

Nick Robertson scoring 20 goals next year on an ELC contract will be a nice addition

 

[Canada4Gold]

1 random thing to note. If Sandin's ELC slides this year his cap hit drops from $894,167 to $863,333 like Liljegren. Both were initially 925k but 2 slides years removes 2 signing bonuses of $92,500 from the calculation. It's only 30k ish and I doubt they'd force the slide just for 30k more space next year but every dollar counts.

 

[tmlms13]

Please explain how the CAP goes up 2M next year? The players want to get the escrow holdback to ZERO. Unless owners and players can agree on some interim changes to CBA (which is possible) then the numbers don't work.
2022 I can't wait for it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The great Gary promise maybe delivered!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But I am from Missouri I will believe it when I see it. There have many many excuses over the years.

Well it's not like the Cap will go down. It will go up something.

 

[Rogue Leader]

Please no more salary cap alarm. My head will explode.

 

[zeke]

Holy run and gun.

That would be a fun team to watch but get ready to get destroyed on the forecheck the other way. PK would also be.....interesting.

eh, that would be a fine defensive squad.

So many options going forward though. I'm actually starting to wonder how Robertson might fit into the team sooner rather than later. He's looking like a helluva player.

yeah, no exaggeration to say Robertson could be in the picture as soon as next year. If he keeps improving.

Which makes trading a kappy/johnsson/kerfoot even less painful.

 

[Dekes For Days]

The CAP going up is wishful thinking unless players decide to do it. The league has 3 or 4 years of catching up to existing CAP number as escalator raises were higher than growth for a few years which is why we had a high 15% hold back last year.

Cap escalator was 0.5% last year, the lowest in history, and the cap still went up 2m.

Not sure where this claim that the cap won't go up at all is coming from. There's nothing to support it.

 

[biotk]

Are there any other LTIR guys out there who will never play again and who Dubas can acquire?

There would be no benefit from, and only problems created by, acquiring an LTIR guy next season.

 

[LeafGrief]

One of Kapanen/Kerfoot/Johnsson gets moved. I'd imagine that's Kapanen because of the wing balance.

One of Barrie or Muzzin gets re-signed, Ceci goes. So far I've been hoping it's Muzzin, but Barrie has been very good the past three games, we need to see a lot more and find out what their demands are. Either way, if we lose Muzzin we will be hunting for his replacement immediately. Hopefully moving one of the above gives us room to retain both of them.

Rielly - Dermott
Muzzin - Barrie
Sandin - Holl

I love that D-core so, so, so much and we haven't even figured out where Liljegren fits.

 

[robertmac43]

There will be trades and cheap call ups to supplement the high dollar guys at the top of the line up. Nothing out of the ordinary really.

I'm not concerned about it all right now though!

 

[robertmac43]

One of Kapanen/Kerfoot/Johnsson gets moved. I'd imagine that's Kapanen because of the wing balance.

Kapi was my guess as well