After completing a respectable season, the Toronto Maple Leafs are preparing for an eventful summer. As they continue to grow, the Leafs have allowed themselves to maintain a cap-friendly roster. By doing so, the team is heading into the offseason with a lot of potential playing room. Lou Lamoriello and company will be determined to strengthen the roster before October.\u00a0Fortunately, the Leafs cap situation will provide them with many opportunities to do so.<\/p>\n
Here’s an overview of Toronto’s current cap situation. The Maple Leafs\u00a0currently sit at 50\/50 contracts and have a cap hit of $72.8 million out of the allowed $73 million set by the NHL.\u00a0At this point, the Leafs hold 35 standard player contracts heading into next season and will have a projected cap hit of $60.1 million. This falls approximately $12 million under the projected cap hit in 2017-2018.<\/p>\n
Furthermore,\u00a0if Lamoriello decide’s to spend up to the cap, he will be able to relieve Joffrey Lupul<\/a><\/strong> and Nathan Horton<\/a><\/strong> of their respective contracts.<\/p>\n Amidst signing Nikita Zaitsev<\/a><\/strong>, the Leafs have managed to sign Morgan Rielly<\/a><\/strong>, Jake Gardiner<\/a><\/strong>, and Zaitsev at $5 million or less per season. They\u00a0only need to address two RFA’s on their active NHL roster; Connor Brown<\/a><\/strong> and Zach Hyman<\/a><\/strong>. Both players are well liked by Mike Babcock and are expected to return under new contracts.<\/p>\n Toronto’s remaining restricted free agents, those not on the active roster, include Brendan Leipsic<\/a><\/strong>, Garret Sparks<\/a>, Seth Griffith<\/a><\/strong>, Justin Holl, Antoine Bibeau<\/a><\/strong>, and Sergey Kalinin<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n The Leafs have four unrestricted free agents that they need to re-sign or replace; Matt Hunwick<\/a><\/strong>, Roman Polak<\/a><\/strong>, Curtis McElhinney<\/a><\/strong>, and Brian Boyle<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n Heading into the offseason, Lou Lamoriello and his staff have a couple paths available for them to take.<\/p>\n The Leafs’ greatest concern undoubtedly lies upon their defensemen. The NHL free agent market, despite being fickle in expense, will provide the Leafs with an immediate solution on the blue line.<\/p>\n As noted by TSN’s Craig Button<\/a>, Toronto would be wise to take Michael Stone<\/a><\/strong> and either Karl Alzner<\/a><\/strong> or Brendan Smith<\/a><\/strong> into consideration.<\/p>\n The Maple Leafs made strides this season. @CraigJButton<\/a> tries to project the 2017-18 lineup to take that next step https:\/\/t.co\/28iOLbnVrp<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/UJU4RHeFXH<\/a><\/p>\n — TSN Hockey (@TSNHockey) March 31, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\nTesting the Free Agent Market<\/h1>\n
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