Kyle Dubas talks about whether he'll reconsider spending almost half of his cap space on 4 players
Leafs GM Kyle Dubas will be back next season, according to President Brendan Shanahan, who joined Dubas at the team's season-ending presser on Tuesday. There were a variety of questions asked during the scrum, but one topic that garnered a lot of attention was whether or not the Leafs would consider moving out a larger contract to allow them some more cap flexibility to address needs in the bottom six, on the blueline or in the crease.
Since the salary cap came into effect, teams have been juggling salaries around trying to find the best formula to win. Unfortunately, there are so many variables in hockey that makes it difficult to determine which formula is the best one. For example, both the Boston Bruins and the Toronto Maple Leafs were defeated in round one this season, with both teams having very different salary structures. The same could be said for a team like the Minnesota Wild, who many expected to make some noise in the postseason.
Of these teams, the Leafs are the only ones who are spending huge on 4 forwards, and that strategy has come under great scrutiny since these deals were signed, those 4 forwards being Auston Matthews, John Tavares, Mitch Marner and William Nylander, who combine for approximately $40M against the cap for the Buds.
When asked specifically about whether or not he regrets spending so much on four players and whether or not he would reconsider how the team is allocating cap dollars, Dubas had stated that he has no regrets and feels as though those players add tremendous value for their contracts. Seeing how each of the "Core 4" performed this season, it's certainly hard to argue with him there.
Dubas also mentioned that the team will do its best to find this year's version of David Kampf, Michael Bunting or Ondrej Kase this summer - players who may not be getting the opportunities they deserve, players who have a high skill cap, but who are coming off of a tough injury or someone who is coming off of a down year and try to bring some players like that who can maybe provide better value on the ice than what their contract may end up looking like. You can see Dubas' comments on the subject below:
| POLL | ||
MAI 17 | 619 ANSWERS Kyle Dubas talks about whether he'll reconsider spending almost half of his cap space on 4 players Should the Leafs deal one of the "Core 4" to spread some money elsewhere? | ||
| Yes | 310 | 50.1 % |
| No, the | 186 | 30 % |
| Only if it's for a legit starting goalie | 123 | 19.9 % |
| List of polls | ||
