Leafs are way over the salary cap after Samsonov contract
The Toronto Maple Leafs might be sporting a new lineup next season, but they’ll need to make some changes before the puck drops in October.
On Sunday, it was confirmed that the team had inked goaltender Ilya Samsonov to a one-year deal worth $3.55 million, after the result of a salary arbitration hearing.
At the very least, Samsonov’s signing offers the Leafs some clarity for their goaltending situation.
But for the rest of the team, it’s only added to a pre-existing cap crunch that currently sees Toronto owning the league’s largest active payroll.
New general manager Brad Treliving has his work cut out for him in the months to come before October’s regular season opener, as CapFriendly currently has the Leafs at a cap hit of $95.9 million next season, a rate alarmingly $12.4 million over the league’s $83.5 million limit.
Veteran defenceman Jake Muzzin, who is currently on long-term injured reserve, is expected to reduce $5.625 million off of the Leafs’ books should he remain unfit to play next season, the final year of his four-year contract originally signed in February 2020.
But Treliving will be forced to make a series of moves to clear Toronto’s cap even further, with a possible buyout of goaltender Matt Murray looming on the horizon as one way the team could clean up their financial side of things.
The good news for Treliving is the Leafs have 11 players coming off their books in 2023, with nearly half the roster set to hit unrestricted free agency. Even if the financial picture is murky for this upcoming season, the team should have plenty of cap flexibility in the years to come for Treliving to build the team to his liking.
The bad news, of course, is he’ll have to try to find a way to finagle plenty of contract negotiations over the next 12 months or so, including for team stars Auston Matthews and William Nylander.
We’re not quite sure exactly what to expect from Toronto come next season, but for those fans starved for another transaction, it’s all but certain that the Leafs will need to make a few more moves before the season gets going in order to be cap compliant come October.
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