How Does Toronto Still Have Money To Spend?

After what might have felt like an eternity for Maple Leafs faithful, the Auston Matthews extension holdout has come to a close.

According to Elliotte Friedman, Matthews has signed with Toronto for a 4-year, $13.25 million AAV, which surpasses Nathan MacKinnon for the highest AAV of any player in NHL history.

While this is obviously a monster deal for one of the most deserving players, and may raise questions down the line for Brad Treliving attempting to retain their ‘Core Four’, it may not be as team-crippling as it may seem.

Entering the 2023-24 season, there was a lot to be figured out after another disappointing end to the Maple Leafs season. The main concern, which had been looming since Toronto signed it’s future captain John Tavares in 2018, was how they would have enough cap space for Matthews, Tavares, Mitch Marner and William Nylander.

So, by the end of the Florida Panthers series, they knew that they had Matthews and Nylander for just one more season, and Tavares and Marner for two.

Now after the deal, Nylander is the only forward left. But as of Tom Gulitti’s article today before the Matthews extension, he is hoping to stay in Toronto.

So while this extension makes it tough to imagine a deal will be done with Nylader before the season, it does not completely eliminate him from returning all together, because this signing clearly shows Brad Treliving’s belief that the salary cap will rise significantly for 2024.

With still some fillings to be determined, the Maple Leafs are already $13-million over the salary cap. But, with the anticipated rise of $4 million in 2024-25, and several larger contracts coming off the books (Jacob Muzzin, T.J. Brodie, Tyler Bertuzzi), a lane for Nylander’s multi-year deal could be in their future.

The only issue from Toronto’s perspective is the leverage Nylander gains from becoming a free agent after the season, where there will certainly be a market for the 87-point player last year.

Regardless, a top-heavy forward’s unit with only one series win in the postseason might not seem like a sound philosophy to win in the NHL. But with the talent level of these four, it’s easy to understand the desire to keep them together.

And although the Tavares deal always seemed like it may handcuff the organization’s ability to spend, Kyle Dubas and now Treliving have seemed to find a way to evade his price tag, which is now going to be put to the test even more in the next two years.

However, it will seem to be worth it for a former Hart Trophy winner, who heading into his age-26 season shows zero signs of slowing down.