Acquiring Kirill Marchenko meant the Leafs had to be a bit flexible to make the trade work while being salary cap compliant. But after 5 p.m. ET on Monday, they'll have a little more flexibility.
The Maple Leafs almost certainly filed a 22-player opening-night roster after Monday’s six-player blockbuster with Columbus, a move that lands Kirill Marchenko in Toronto and immediately turns the salary-cap conversation into a two-step problem.
PuckPedia’s breakdown is the cleanest roadmap available. After the deal, with Marchenko, Miles Wood and Elvis Merzlikins coming north and Matthew Knies, Steven Lorentz, Emil Andrae and a conditional 2027 second-rounder going the other way, Toronto is projected $3.94 million over the cap. The club can still submit a roster with Merzlikins on regular long-term injured reserve (LTIR) and capture LTIR relief within $37,000 of optimal space.
But being compliant by Monday afternoon was just the first piece of the puzzle.
Merzlikins, 32 and in the final year of a $5.4 million contract with 18 percent retained by Columbus, is already out indefinitely following late-August shoulder surgery. Max Domi failed his physical at the start of camp and remains out indefinitely after complications from offseason back surgery. Once the Leafs are cap-compliant on paper, they can go deeper into the LTIR pool: place Domi ($3.75 million) on long-term IR and, if they choose, convert Merzlikins from regular LTIR to season-ending LTIR. That second layer would add roughly $4.20 million of usable space.
But even just the additional $3.75 million would be more than enough to call up a 23rd player onto the roster after doing the initial paperwork that was filed at 5 p.m. ET on Monday. Marshall Rifai, waived last week for assignment to the Marlies and already familiar with the organization, is the easiest candidate to be called up as an eighth defenceman. He is cheap, left-shot, and would not require another waiver process if recalled after the roster is locked.
There is a second path. Marchenko is a 26-year-old Russian winger who was in Columbus on Monday and is now expected to be in a Leafs sweater as soon as his paperwork clears. If his visa is not squared away in time for Tuesday’s opener against Montreal at Scotiabank Arena, Toronto may prefer a second extra forward instead of that eighth defenceman. With Dakota Joshua dealing with a core ailment, that would pave the way for Bo Groulx to enter the lineup on Tuesday with potentially another forward up in case something happens. The 26-year-old center-wing hybrid impressed in camp, can kill penalties, and was already projected as a candidate to open the season if Dakota Joshua’s core issue lingered. In a 22-man filing that hedges the visa question, Groulx finds his way onto the opening-night roster. But an extra forward for 23 could be useful insurance until Marchenko gets the paperwork necessary to play.
