For the first time in what feels like forever, the Toronto Maple Leafs aren't completely cap-strapped.
The Maple Leafs currently have $1.9 million in salary cap space, which could accrue to $8.7 million by the NHL trade deadline, according to PuckPedia.
Whether it’s a product of Toronto striking out while actively trying to spend to the $95.5-million cap ceiling, or whether it’s a deliberate strategy by Leafs GM Brad Treliving, the Buds are practising at least a modicum of discipline.
That cap space could increase if Treliving moves overpriced veterans, such as center David Kampf and Calle Jarnkrok, for draft picks or straight-ahead salary dumps.
But Maple Leafs fans should be excited to enter the season with sufficient cap space to potentially add a difference-maker, either during the season or next summer. It certainly hasn’t been team policy to preach patience, but as it stands, it’s as great a time as any for Toronto to do so.
The Leafs must make the most of this intriguing point in team history and bide their time when it comes to bringing aboard a new face, especially if they’re eventually giving that new face a lot of contract term and money to be part of their long-term blueprint for success.
The NHL’s boulevard of broken dreams is littered with stories of contractual commitments gone wrong, with only buyouts as a viable end to them. And spending to the cap ceiling every year isn’t anyone’s solution to winning a Stanley Cup. If it were, they’d all be doing it.
To be sure, Treliving has put together a strong team as-is, as Toronto is a legitimate threat to win the Atlantic Division for the second straight season.
Why should the Leafs shoehorn in another contract now when they can wait less than 12 months and go on a spending bonanza for next year’s class of free agents?
By this time next year, the cap ceiling will have risen to $104 million, and two years from now, the cap ceiling is expected to rise to $113.5 million. That’s an $18-million increase in two years.
That gives every team the ability to add not just one but two high-end players – maybe three, if you’re a crafty GM.
So why shouldn’t the Leafs make a strategic move to target Grade-A talent when it becomes available? Even if that means waiting a year, that’s a direction that every Leafs fan should be able to live with.
And really, it isn’t as if Toronto’s current cap space is the harbinger of cheaper days ahead. We all know how Leafs fans would respond if, over the long term, it was clear ownership was cutting corners. We all know Leafs fans would not react well, but if it’s short-term pain for long-term gain, Toronto fans can live with that.
Now, maybe there’s an early-season trade target who comes available in advance of next year’s trade deadline, and Treliving needs to strike while the iron’s hot. Even then, they must be careful not to take on somebody who doesn't have an expiring contract and affect their chances of making a bigger splash next off-season.
Any move that Treliving makes in the post-Mitch Marner Era will be under a microscope like none before it, and Treliving will ultimately need to be accountable for each move he makes.
The last thing he wants is to handcuff himself to an athlete who underperforms, and Treliving has to avoid any urge to spend to the cap ceiling on someone he’s not 100 percent sure about.
There may come a day when it becomes clear why Treliving took his time to acquire a veteran who can move the needle for the Maple Leafs. Maybe that player had to go through one final try with his current team before they look to Toronto as a viable option. Maybe a player wanted to test the free-agent market, even if it meant scaring away some potential employers. You never know how things can develop.
In an ideal world, a team always has a buffer. But when bidding wars do make sense, a team’s cap space can evaporate in an instant. So stumbling across some cap space is in many ways a gift from the hockey gods. Once you accrue enough cap space, you open yourself up to a new quality of player.
And for the Leafs, that will mean someday – maybe not today, and maybe not this season – they get to reap the rewards of cap flexibility. They have to be smart about their spending, but as the cap ceiling rises, so too will Toronto be putting itself in an increasingly more positive position to considerably improve its roster.
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