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Can the Leafs compete with four players making over $10M+ a season?



Starting next season, the Maple Leafs will have four players making more than 10 million dollars on the cap. How are the Leafs going to be able to ice a team when almost $55 million is going to five players? TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun joins Jay Onrait to discuss.

35 Comments

  1. This team will never win a cup…never.
    Now that Willy is signed he should be traded immediately for a top d man and a top goalie.

  2. With this deal, Mariner and Tavares will be trade bait in 2024-25 when they become UFAs. There's no chance you keep both of them.

  3. I think when you look at this deal it says, Tavares must take a discount to stay a leaf which I believe he is planning on doing, and marner is probably going to need to take a discount or he will be odd man out. BUT you have 2 scorers locked up and getting more cap flexibility is only 1 year away if you really want that. Do you want cap flexibility over having Mitch Marner. Ask yourself that.

  4. no they cannot. MLSE prints money so paying aint the problem. look out for funny cap decisions that make no sense except screwing with the system.

  5. Regular season? Sure. Playoffs? Not with this particular core. Maybe if they had a core of Crosby, Hedman, Vasilevskiy and Toews (in their primes) or some other group of playoff-performing players. But not with these guys.

  6. No. They’ve had this “core 4” for how many seasons now? Furthest they’ve made it to is 2nd round in the playoffs. It will be the same results year after year as long as they keep these 4 guys, and pay everyone else on the team peanuts.

  7. Even with a potentially increasing cap. It’s not as if the increased cap is only for MLSE. I love the core 3, and I won’t argue they’re overpaid individually. But a team with many $6-9M players is likely to always do better than a top heavy 4x $11M+.

  8. Nope. There is no balance, eg goalies, defence men, 3rd and 4th lines with essentially journey men. When Nylander starts to be bystander again and Matthew’s stops scoring, who ya gonna turn to?

  9. Tavares must go. Great face off guy but he no longer pulls his offensive weight for the salary he commands. Spend the money on goal and defence.

  10. Yeah idk. The Leafs have clearly had a ton of success investing 63% of their cap into 5 players over the last 10 years. Who knows, maybe it'll change if they keep doing the same thing over and over again.

  11. all the Leafs need now is a goalie and a D man…then and only then they can start the early parade route.

  12. Nylander’s camp: You will give us EVERYTHING we want! (Term, bonuses, money, lockout-proof guaranteed salary, full no-movement for the entire contract)
    Basically Toronto gets nothing.

    Treliving: Sure thing!

  13. Leafs haven't been competing and we weren't paying 4 guys 10+ million, in what world would having less cap make us more competitive…

  14. Can the Leafs compete with four $11M players? Only if two of the four included elite stud defencemen or one elite defenceman and a top goalie. Not if all four are forwards, two of those being Marner and Tavares. This is still an extension of the Dubas-era guys. This team is not built for the playoffs. New coach/system required!

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