NHL TEAMS FEELING CAP CRUNCH
Maple Leafs one of many clubs handcuffed by having too many high-priced players
If Kyle Dubas could do it all over again, would the Toronto Maple Leafs GM have signed John Tavares?
Knowing what he knows now and what he fears the next few years could bring, would he even have attempted it?
We ask these question not as a criticism of Tavares’ limited time in Toronto — where he’s scored 73 goals and 148 points in 145 games and done everything anyone could have asked of him — but in light of the NHL’s salary cap having gone up only $2-million in the two years since he arrived.
At this rate — and there’s no indication the cap will even rise $2 million again in the next two years — the Leafs can no longer afford Tavares and his $11-million salary.
They might have been able to a year ago, when Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner were both on their entry-level deals. But with Matthews, Marner and William Nylander now accounting for nearly $30-million of the $81.5-million salary cap, the team no longer has the luxury of paying that amount of money to another forward when their defence is so paper thin.
It’s why Toronto went most of this year with Michael Hutchinson as its backup goalie and had five of their bottom-six forwards earning less than $4-million combined. Next year, with the salary cap expected to remain frozen, the options will be far more limited. And they will remain that way if fans are not allowed back in the buildings and revenues continue to decline.
In other words, 2019 draft pick Nick Robertson better be NHL ready. The Leafs might not have a choice.
This isn’t just a Toronto problem. Everyone not named Ottawa will feel the crunch if the salary cap remains stagnant.
Chicago has 18 players signed through 2020-21 and $7.35-million in available cap space to fill out its 23-man roster. Some of that money has to go to re-upping rookie Dominik Kubalik and Dylan Strome, plus the Blackhawks don’t have a goalie signed.
Arizona was hoping to re-sign Taylor Hall in the summer. But with $7-million in the kitty and seven roster spots that need filling, it won’t be a reality unless they can find someone willing to take either Phil Kessel ($6.8-million) or Derek Stepan ($6.5-million) off their hands.
Tampa Bay is also in trouble. When are they not? The team has only 15 players under contract and about $5-million leftover to re-up Selke Trophy candidate
Anthony Cirelli and defenceman Mikhail Sergachev, meaning Yanni Gourde ($5.1-million), Alex Killorn ($5-million) or Tyler Johnson ($4.45-million) could be available.
And then there’s Toronto. The Leafs, who have spent the second-most on salaries of any team in the NHL (the Coyotes are No. 1), have 16 players signed through 2020-21 and only $4.59-million in projected cap space.
Tyson Barrie is not one of those players, meaning the Leafs will need to find a right-shot defenceman in free agency to play in the top four. But some of that available money has to go to re-signing defenceman Travis Dermott and fourth-line centre Frederik Gauthier. The team also has to put away some cash if it hopes on bringing back No. 1 goalie Frederik Andersen and winger Zach Hyman, who is coming off back-to-back 21-goal seasons, when both are UFAs a year from now.
And don’t forget: someone on Toronto’s roster (Dermott, Gauthier or Pierre Engvall?) could get poached by Seattle in the 2021 Expansion Draft.
In other words, the Leafs better take advantage of this 24-team playoff. Unless revenues skyrocket in the next 12 months — good luck with that happening — it could represent their best chance of winning.
No one expected this. Not Dubas. And certainly not Tavares, who at the time assumed the Leafs had the financial freedom to keep their team intact.
In the years leading up to Tavares’ signing, the salary cap had risen from $71.4-million to $73-million to $75-million to $79.5-million. It was fair to assume it would continue to rise. It was a possibility that Tavares’ salary, like the eightyear, $68-million contract Leon Draisaitl signed one year earlier, would eventually look like a steal.
Instead, it’s put financial handcuffs on a team that is looking more imbalanced by the day.
Chances are, the Leafs will have to let someone go when the playoffs end this year. It could be Kasperi Kapanen or Andreas Johnsson. It might be Nylander and his $6.9-million salary.
We saw a bit of this a year ago, when the salary cap rose by only $2 million and the Leafs were forced to send Patrick Marleau and a first-round draft pick to Carolina as part of a $6.5-million salary dump. Nashville did the same when they traded P.K. Subban and his $9-million salary to New Jersey for basically nothing.
This year, expect more bloodletting.
If you’re a team like the Ottawa Senators, this could be a chance to acquire a top-line winger for free. If you’re the Leafs, you could be hoping for a first-round exit and a chance to win Alexis Lafreniere in the draft lottery.
It might be the only way they can add a player under the cap.