One down, two to go for Leafs
Nylander signed, so focus now shifts to Matthews, Marner
There is no road map for Kyle Dubas, no general manager’s GPS to carry him through the predicament no National Hockey League team has faced before.
He and his staff are on their own, navigating through this rare and unique situation with this rare and unique array of Maple Leafs talent, paddling their way through salary cap hell on the way to a possible championship run.
The complicated signing and lengthy last-minute negotiation with William Nylander is over. Now more complications are upon general manager Dubas and his able assistants, Brandon Pridham and Laurence Gilman.
The next real date of significance isn’t necessarily February’s trade deadline. Instead it’s the potentially franchise-changing date of July 1.
Dubas must have Auston Matthews signed by then. He must have Mitch Marner signed by then. He can’t afford to let his two most prized talents be available as free agents on July 1, even if that free agency is restricted.
He can’t do it for two reasons — he can’t afford to lose either one, even if the compensation would be somewhat worthwhile years from now. And he can’t afford to lose them temporarily. Matching another team’s offer sheet would throw his already messy salary cap balance into more disarray.
Conceivably, and quite possibly, the Leafs will be in a position no team has been in before. They could have four players next season — John Tavares, Nylander, Matthews and Marner — whose combined salary cap hit will be in the $40 million range. That will represent 48 per cent of the next year’s salary cap at the minimum. On four players.
That leaves 19 players to account for just more than half the remaining cap number.
“You have to go beyond Mitch and Auston and William,” said Dubas, talking about the contracts of his young Leafs. “We have Morgan (Rielly) and Freddy (Andersen) and Naz (Kadri) and these are not old guys. That’s the part that excites us the most. We have them plus Sheldon (Keefe) and our development staff, they’re developing guys who are close.
“And at the same time, I believe this has become a destination where veteran players are looking at in the summer. You have to remember, we haven’t won anything yet. We haven’t even won a playoff round. But jeez, we have a chance to do something. That’s the exciting part.”
It doesn’t really answer the question about four players and $40 million and how to proceed from there.
Perhaps time will answer all that. Like all in his profession, Dubas doesn’t always answer what he is asked.
The July 1 date should worry Dubas, who carried this Nylander negotiation to the non-bitter end. Although he doesn’t seem to be under any pressure to get Matthews and Marner signed before it, that could be just for public appearance.
“I don’t have a lot of fear of (offer sheets),” he said. “What people tend to forget about offer sheets is, the player has to sign the contract.”
He says that reasonably convinced Toronto is where Marner and Matthews want to play.
“Even if one of them gets to that point of an offer sheet, we’ll match, we’re capable of matching anything. We’re looking to have those players signed. That’s our focus now.”
But if Dubas learned anything throughout the Nylander negotiation, it is to not push anything to the deadline and get a deal done much earlier instead.
I asked what this means for Jake Gardiner, the pending free agent defenceman who has played himself into a position where he plays more minutes a game at even strength than any other Leaf.
“We’ll see,” Dubas said. We’ll see can’t be all that comforting to Gardiner, who loves playing here.
Then Dubas continued: “Jake’s abigpartofwhatwedohere.He has been here for a long time. It’s our ambition to keep Jake here. I’ve had discussions with (agent) Pat Brisson on it. We will continue to have discussions with Pat. We’ll see where the situations go with Auston and Mitch and then we’ll determine where else we can go.”
Nylander, Matthews, Marner and Tavares will come in around $40 million.
Rielly, Kadri, Andersen and Patrick Marleau add another $20.7 to the payroll maze.
That’s eight players and $60.7 million, 10 at $65 million if you include Zach Hyman and Connor Brown.
And for the 13 players left on the roster? There’s maybe $16 million total. The tightrope walk of contract juggling has officially begun for Dubas.
He has this likable self-confidence about him.
There was an hour to go on Saturday and Dubas admits to being nervous, a rare moment of disbelief before getting the deal done. He doesn’t get nervous often.
But guess what? The nervous season has officially begun.