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No team’s salary-cap situation is put under a more intense microscope annually than the Toronto Maple Leafs given the financial commitments they have made to core players Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander and John Tavares.
They are a team that spends to the cap every season and is desperate to bring a Stanley Cup back to Toronto for the first time since the Original Six days.
While Matthew and Nylander are already locked into long-term deals, they are facing a big offseason full of decisions as Marner and Tavares are both set to become unrestricted free agents after this season.
It remains to be seen what direction the Maple Leafs want to go with them, and there is a good chance that if they fizzle out in the playoffs again they might finally use that as a chance to reset their core. After all, how long can you keep losing in the first round before you start to question the biggest common denominators.
But if the Maple Leafs find postseason success and want to keep one or both, or if they want to go in a different direction and bring in different star-level players (and there could be options), every extra dollar in salary-cap space is going to be important.
Toronto already has $64.6 million committed to 16 players for next season, and that is before you get into potential deals for Marner and Tavares, or restricted free agents like Matthew Knies who is also playing himself into a nice raise, or potential upgrades to the roster from outside the organization they will almost certainly need.