If Dubas does that he'll end up with a 21 player roster with ZERO cap space cushion in case of injuries (the non-LTIR type). Some people on here are dumb enough to say that if there's are injuries (and yes, there will be injuries) Dubas will just bring someone up from the minors... Sorry... he can't do that if they are short term injuries because doing that makes the Leafs non cap compliant because the Leafs have ZERO cap space
You are simply wrong.
If the Leafs' have 18 skaters and 2 goalies on their roster, no cap space, and lose a player or players due to injury they can (after having played one game with fewer than 20 players) use section 50.10(e) of the CBA which allows the emergency recall of a player or players to fill out their roster for the remainder of the time for which they are needed. The emergency recalled player's salaries do not count towards the cap. They have to have a salary of no more than 800K (including bonuses) to qualify. They can do this as many times as they need to.