The Maple Leafs have some decisions to make and some cap maneuvering will be needed to ice their opening-night lineup.
The Maple Leafs have some decisions to make and some cap maneuvering will be needed to ice their opening-night lineup.
The pre-season is over and now the Toronto Maple Leafs are situated with the task of trying to get their roster down to 23 players and under the NHL's salary cap of $88 million by 5 p.m. ET on Monday Oct. 7.
With the help of PuckPedia.com, we can look at the team's salary cap situation, the signings they need to make, who will be long-term injured reserve and if they need to make any assignments (some requiring waivers) and possible trades before then.
Let's start with the easy decisions.
Easton Cowan - Back to Junior
While there was a lot of hype around Cowan following an impressive season with the London Knights where he earned the OHL's Most Outstanding Player award and playoff MVP, the player will likely be returned to the Knights. Because he's 19, Cowan does not have the option of going to the Marlies until his season with the Knights is over.
Matt Murray - Waivers for purposes of assignment to the Toronto Marlies
Signed to a one-year, $875,000, Murray is Toronto's third goaltending option. While it can be dicey to put a goaltender on waivers, there's no situation, at least right now, where carrying three goalies to occupy roster spots makes sense. When needed, Murray would be the first call to back up. But for now, he should be Marlies bound. He needs games and it's a great place for him to start as he continues his recovery from major hip surgery.
Fraser Minten - Assigned to Toronto Marlies when he recovers from a high-ankle sprain.
It seems like Minten's Leafs training camps only comes in two extremes. Making the team, like he did last year, or getting injured, like he did in his first camp in 2022 and this year when he suffered a high-ankle sprain during the rookie showdown in Montreal. When Minten recovers, he will be a nice addition to the Marlies and could be called upon to the Leafs later in the season if needed.
Dakota Mermis and Philippe Myers - Waivers for purposes of assignment to the Toronto Marlies
Mermis had jaw surgery after an incident at practice and will likely be put on waivers and sent to the Marlies when he recovers. Myers has filled in for Jake McCabe while the defenseman recovers from an upper-body injury. Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube expressed optimism that McCabe would return to practice on Monday and Myers is likely headed for the waiver wire.
Mermis and Myers were both signed by the Maple Leafs to identical one-year contracts.
Marshall Rifai Assigned to Marlies for Purposes of Waivers...Unless...
Although Rifai has had an excellent training camp, it's hard to see room for the defender the way their roster is currently constructed. Unless they have a deal in place to move somebody else and they don't sign either one of PTOs Max Pacioretty or Steven Lorentz, and Timothy Liljegren remains on the roster, then Rifai has to go through waivers and be assigned to the Marlies.
The path of least resistance and what is likely to happen.
Assuming all the above players are removed from the team's roster, it leaves the Maple Leafs with 23 players on their roster and they are over the salary cap by $1,069,667. However, Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving continues to say defenseman Jani Hakanpaa is working his way back from a knee injury and Connor Dewar is weeks away from returning from off-season shoulder surgery.
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It's more than likely the club places both players on long-term injured reserve. That would leave the Leafs with 21 players on their roster with $1,580,833 in salary cap room.
That would be more than enough to sign professional tryout players Max Pacioretty and Steven Lorentz to one-year deals. Both players could split the money and each earn a salary of $790,416.50. What's more likely is Pacioretty earning slightly more ($805,833) with Lorentz coming in at the NHL minimum of $775,000.
That would put the Leafs at the maximum allowable roster size of 23 players and they would fit nicely under the cap. And they wouldn't have to move anybody.
Of course, if there are trades, anything can change the calculus of this. But this is the path of least resistance to having a full roster while maintaining their current assets.
From there, it's just about icing an opening-night lineup. That will become clearer following Monday's practice.
The Leafs open their season on Wednesday Oct 9 at Bell Centre against the Montreal Canadiens.
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