Confirmed with Link: Leafs sign Jake McCabe to an extension (5 years - 4.51M AAV)

[Tie Domi Esquire]

Wat???
Gotta love our fanbase.

Because he's 32 when the deal starts and the team is nowhere near winning or going on a run.

 

[Budz]

Because he's 32 when the deal starts and the team is nowhere near winning or going on a run.

Ahhhh - you are starting the rebuild next year.

Love this forward thinking…

 

[mapleleaf979]

Important part of this deal is after the 5 year contract is done, the following year in Year 6 they pay him 2.5m Signing Bonus which is against the cap. He will be retired or playing elsewhere and getting 2.5 million. That put a whole new twist on this deal.

 

[Ports]

In isolation - love the deal, and the AAV.

Big picture - exact same concerns I had with the Muzzin extension, I have here. That's a lot of term and money for a guy that plays a really heavy brand of hockey.

That Leafs blueline has a lot of money and term now committed to a lot of older guys - the pain is going to come here, sooner or later.

Sooner or later ? Pain has been here the last eight years come playoff time.

 

[Apex Predator]

Can someone explain how they calculate the cap hit with deferred money? Mcabes deal
Is actually 23.5 over 5 years which is a 4.7 cap hit. If the cap hit is 4.51 million that works to 22.55. Is the difference what is deferred? Is there a cap hit for that in year 6 after his contract ends?

 

[ponder]

Reasonable contract. With that being said, I am pretty concerned about how our D is gonna age:

- Tanev: currently 34, signed this year and 5 more ($4.5 mil AAV)

- OEL: currently 33, signed this year and 3 more ($3.5 mil AAV)

- McCabe: currently 31, signed this year and 5 more ($2 mil AAV this year, then $4.5 mil AAV the rest)

- Rielly: currently 30, signed this year and 5 more ($7.5 mil AAV)

Right now, these deals are fine. But it’s very, very common for players to drop off significantly in their early 30s. These guys are all going to be 36 to 40 by the time their deals expire, the chance of these deals collectively becoming an absolute boat anchor is really high.

All of these deals are reasonable in isolation, they’re all likely “good for a few years, then bad the last few years” type deals. But having 4 like that is scary.

 

[arso40]

Reasonable contract. With that being said, I am pretty concerned about how our D is gonna age:

- Tanev: currently 34, signed this year and 5 more ($4.5 mil AAV)

- OEL: currently 33, signed this year and 3 more ($3.5 mil AAV)

- McCabe: currently 31, signed this year and 5 more ($2 mil AAV this year, then $4.5 mil AAV the rest)

- Rielly: currently 30, signed this year and 5 more ($7.5 mil AAV)

Right now, these deals are fine. But it’s very, very common for players to drop off significantly in their early 30s. These guys are all going to be 36 to 40 by the time their deals expire, the chance of these deals collectively becoming an absolute boat anchor is really high.

All of these deals are reasonable in isolation, they’re all likely “good for a few years, then bad the last few years” type deals. But having 4 like that is scary.

If we don’t hit on a couple prospects or draft pics we’re screwed

 

[LeafEgo]

Can someone explain how they calculate the cap hit with deferred money? Mcabes deal
Is actually 23.5 over 5 years which is a 4.7 cap hit. If the cap hit is 4.51 million that works to 22.55. Is the difference what is deferred? Is there a cap hit for that in year 6 after his contract ends?

They deferred 5.5M of his bonuses until year 6.

Under CBA the AAV for deferred bonuses is based on present day value instead of future day value. In this case the present day value, based on when the bonuses are earned/paid and calculations stipluated in the CBA, looks to come out to ~4.5M. So they save 200k per year on AAV.

No cap hit in year 6.

 

[TMLAM34]

Happy we re-signed him. He’s a warrior.

 

[Hellcat]

I haven't really looked into it but I think AAV savings are limited to the difference between present day and future day value of bonus deferral amounts, which have their own restrictions. Something like that.

Not sure if Jarvis for example maxed out what is possible, but his AAV was reduced by 6%.

I think I read somewhere that the deferral saves us around 200k on the cap, 4.7m to 4.5m?

 

[Carltons Cup]

Overall a good deal, however I suspect he may be spending the last year of that deal vacationing on Robidas Island.

 

[TMLBlueandWhite]

From the Leafs POV the $200k saved is squat all.

So I imagine they structured it this way more to the player's benefit than the team. Otherwise why didn't they do Nylander and Matthews contract the same way. Does anyone seriously expect Marner to structure his contract this way unless it benefits him regardless if it's a detriment to the team.

I suspect they all would have done so the first time around if there was a clear benefit in it for them.

This is what the NHL has turned into. A mob operation where lawyers and accountants have to get their slimy hands into everything. Cooking of the books combined with a game of hide the pea.

Everyone is just out to get theirs.

If Marner's contract isn't structured with a deferred payout McCabe needs a new financial advisor. Otherwise Treliving grossly mis-stepped with the Matthews and Nylander extensions. A team with cup aspirations up against the cap should be using every advantage available to game the system.

Not just using LTIR to make bad contracts go away.

 

[SprDaVE]

Can someone explain how they calculate the cap hit with deferred money? Mcabes deal
Is actually 23.5 over 5 years which is a 4.7 cap hit. If the cap hit is 4.51 million that works to 22.55. Is the difference what is deferred? Is there a cap hit for that in year 6 after his contract ends?

Simple answer is that the difference is what is deferred and there is no cap hit for the deferred money.

Deferred compensation in NHL contracts allows teams to reduce cap hits by paying players after their contract ends. Though this strategy offers cap advantages, it's rare due to the potentially minimal impact on cap savings and players’ preference for immediate earnings.

Puckpedia deferred compensation calculator

Puckpedia's deferred compensation explanation

 

[Dekes For Days]

Really glad we re-signed him. AAV is good.
Not a huge fan of the term, but it's at least better than what was being reported. Just kind of concerning, given the defenseman contracts we handed out this offseason.

 

[Tie Domi Esquire]

Ahhhh - you are starting the rebuild next year.

Love this forward thinking…

They've been in win now mode since 2018. Wasting picks, prospects, cap space, and letting players walk for nothing. They've won one fluke series in that time.

They aren't good enough, end of story. At what point do you acknowledge reality? McCabe's cap hit will double from what it currently is. Signing McCabe makes sure they stay at this same level at best for a year or 2 of his deal before the dramatic fall off.

Personally I want the team to become competitive. Maybe I'm wrong for wanting that. But I guess everyone back with a raise except for Tavares, who will be back at half price, will make them good enough to not lose to everyone.

 

[hockeywiz542]

'Stability Was Really Important To Me': Jake McCabe Explains Why He Signed a Five-Year Extension With The Maple Leafs - The Hockey News

"Having a young family, stability was really important to me," McCabe said. "I didn't want to have my kids moving around a bunch later in my career to who knows what situation."

McCabe signs 5-year, $22.55 million contract with Maple Leafs | NHL.com

Defenseman could have become unrestricted free agent after this season, had 28 points in 2023-24

www.nhl.com

October 28, 2024

Jake McCabe signed a five-year, $22.55 million contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday. The deal, which starts next season, has an average annual value of $4.51 million.

The defenseman is in the final season of a four-year, $16 million contract ($4 million AAV) he signed with the Chicago Blackhawks on July 28, 2021. He was traded to the Maple Leafs on Feb. 27, 2023, and could have become an unrestricted free agent after the season.

"It's really exciting for me and my family," McCabe said. "We've loved our time in Toronto thus far, and to be able to sign off for another five years is super exciting for us."

McCabe said negotiations began during the offseason and that he felt confident the sides would come to an agreement.

"I mean, you obviously never know how sometimes negotiations go," McCabe said. "But (general manager) Brad [Treliving] has been great the whole time and was able to work something out here, and I think we're all very excited about it."

McCabe has three assists, is averaging 21:09 of ice time and leads Toronto with a plus-6 rating in nine games this season.

"I think it's great," coach Craig Berube said. "He's a team-first guy, hard defender, hard to play against. He's the type of [defenseman] you want on your hockey team."

 

[Menzinger]

They've been in win now mode since 2018. Wasting picks, prospects, cap space, and letting players walk for nothing. They've won one fluke series in that time.

They aren't good enough, end of story. At what point do you acknowledge reality? McCabe's cap hit will double from what it currently is. Signing McCabe makes sure they stay at this same level at best for a year or 2 of his deal before the dramatic fall off.

Personally I want the team to become competitive. Maybe I'm wrong for wanting that. But I guess everyone back with a raise except for Tavares, who will be back at half price, will make them good enough to not lose to everyone.

Though what you would (likely?) prefer isn't really going to unfold until the teams current core is traded or leaves in free agency. So McCabe's deal really has no bearing on that In the grand scheme of things

Personally I don't the deal is constraining the team from doing anything. Yes the caphit technically doubled, but it's only 2 million we're talking about (1 Jarnkrok). The league is back to multi million dollar cap raises per year so the negative of that gets offset

 

[Tak7]

Sooner or later ? Pain has been here the last eight years come playoff time.

Talking specifically about them aging poorly.

 

[Tie Domi Esquire]

Though what you would (likely?) prefer isn't really going to unfold until the teams current core is traded or leaves in free agency. So McCabe's deal really has no bearing on that In the grand scheme of things

Personally I don't the deal is constraining the team from doing anything. Yes the caphit technically doubled, but it's only 2 million we're talking about (1 Jarnkrok). The league is back to multi million dollar cap raises per year so the negative of that gets offset

Yes, it's unlikely the Leafs make moves that will take them closer to winning as we have seen. That doesn't mean I'm going to pretend that they're trying to win or what they're doing is good. With or without McCabe this team is out in the first round. He's too old to be a contributor on the team if they were actually trying to win, they don't have the pieces. In about 2 years, people here will be saying he's unplayable.

The point about his cap hit doubling is that (like Nylander last year) they have the same players that are making more money. They are not improving, they are getting worse. If they tried to actually change core pieces? Then we can talk about getting better but they're trying the same team that can't beat anyone at worse prices. Makes no sense except to the bank accounts of a small group of people.

 

[Menzinger]

Yes, it's unlikely the Leafs make moves that will take them closer to winning as we have seen. That doesn't mean I'm going to pretend that they're trying to win or what they're doing is good. With or without McCabe this team is out in the first round. He's too old to be a contributor on the team if they were actually trying to win, they don't have the pieces. In about 2 years, people here will be saying he's unplayable.

The point about his cap hit doubling is that (like Nylander last year) they have the same players that are making more money. They are not improving, they are getting worse. If they tried to actually change core pieces? Then we can talk about getting better but they're trying the same team that can't beat anyone at worse prices. Makes no sense except to the bank accounts of a small group of people.

Im not so sure McCabe is going to be unplayable at only 33....

I think you would be hard pressed to argue that McCabe has been the reason the team hasn't succeeded since joining the team - nor are there signs (yet) of him getting worse. So I don't really see how McCabe staying is preventing other areas of the team improving.

 

[DarkKnight]

I was saying earlier only an idiot would dislike this McCabe deal. I had the misfortune of hearing Jonas Seigal on a podcast today, so that theory still holds.

 

[Ports]

Talking specifically about them aging poorly.

Their window is to win in the next 3-4 years. I don’t see an issue in that time frame. Lots of defenseman play well into their mid to late 30’s and outside of Rielly their caps are all reasonable so moving off them shouldn’t be a problem.

I was saying earlier on an idiot would dislike this McCabe deal. I had the misfortune of hearing Jonas Seigal in a podcast today, so that theory still holds.

He has no clue. A lot of media hacks who never played are similarly clueless.