This summer’s longest running NHL soap opera, at least in the Greater Toronto Area, is finally over as 22-year-old Mitch Marner came to terms on a new deal with the Maple Leafs. After posting 61 points in his rookie season and following it up with campaigns of 69 points and a team-high 94 last year, he inked a six-year, $65.358 million deal on September 13th which will see him paid an average of $10.893 million a season. He’s also notched 17 points in 20 career playoff outings but the Leafs have yet to get past the first round in the past three seasons.
The new contract means there are currently 13 NHL players making at least $10 million per year. But interestingly, nine of those players failed to make the playoffs last season. The Maple Leafs now boast three $10 million-plus players in Marner, and fellow forwards Auston Matthews and John Tavares. On the troubling, something will eventually have to give as the Leafs are currently over the Salary Cap. That situation will likely escalate in the next couple of years too since five of Toronto’s blue liners will need a new contract next year and goaltender Frederik Andersen will need one two years from now.
When William Nylander is added to the list of Marner, Matthews and Tavares, Leafs’ general manager Kyle Dubas is paying approximately half of this year’s Salary cap or $40 million on those four players. If the league’s salary cap doesn’t increase by much over the next few years then Dubas will have to get very creative or shed some salary by making player moves. NHL teams can sign a maximum of 50 players and they are typically used to fill out their NHL and American Hockey League (AHL) farm team rosters.
The Leafs also have three players on professional tryouts at training camp in Matt Read, Brandon Halverson and goaltender Michal Neuvirth. If one of them happens to make the lineup they will have to be signed to a contract to put further strain on the salary cap. At the moment the 2019/20 cap is $81.5 million with the Leafs being over it by $13,327,699. However, they are eligible to place the large contracts of Nathan Horton and David Clarkson on long-term injury relief (LTIR). In addition, forward Zach Hyman and defender Travis Dermott could start the campaign on LTIR to clear up more salary cap space.
This would give Toronto room for 23 players under the salary cap. But as soon as Hyman and/or Dermott return they will once again be over the cap by approximately $2 million. This means the team will have to go with 21 or 22 players unless Dubas makes a trade or loses somebody on waivers. With just 21 or 22 players the team could face injury problems during the season. This could force them to call up players on an emergency basis if their injured players aren’t out of the lineup long enough to be placed on LTIR, which is typically when they are expected to be sidelined for 10 games or 24 days.
It will be interesting to see how the Leafs handle their conundrum once training camp and preseason games end and the NHL celebrates opening night. It will also be interesting to see how Marner’s sky-high contract affects the rest of the league’s top unsigned restricted free agents such as Patrik Laine, Mikko Rantanen, Brayden Point, Matthew Tkachuk, Brock Boeser and Kyle Connor. With Marner signing for just under $11 million a season it looks like several of these players are likely to receive at least $8 million a year on new deals, if and when they eventually sign.
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