The Leafs can fit a $7.4M player in under the cap without touching the core
Shockingly, the Toronto Maple Leafs have the ability to add a $7.4M player without touching the core and would still remain salary cap compliant.
The Maple Leafs have made several moves to shore up the blueline and solidify things in the crease, having inked free agents Chris Tanev, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Jani Hakanpaa and Anthony Stolarz earlier this week.
The one thing the Leafs haven't done, however, is address their depth scoring issues or acquired another center. Well, as The Athletic's Kevin Papetti pointed out this week, if the Leafs do want to add another impact forward, it's completely within the realm of possibility that they can create as much as $7.4M in cap space. To do this, they would simply have to move David Kampf, Calle Jarnkrok, Timothy Liljegren, Ryan Reaves and Conor Timmins. The kicker is that it would require both Fraser Minten and Easton Cowan to be on the Maple Leafs' NHL roster.
Papetti laid out the idea on Friday, showing what a full 20-man roster would look like, with $7.4M to spare.
If the Leafs were to do this, they could then either spend that $7.4M on one star player, or two quality players, which would likely be headlined by a good 3rd line center.
Obviously, the Maple Leafs have given no indication that they're looking to do this, but Papetti has shown that it's entirely possible, if push comes to shove.
The Leafs do have a number of pieces that they could use to help facilitate a trade for a high end player if they wanted to, including Liljegren, Nick Robertson, Topi Niemela and their 2026 1st round pick.
Brad Treliving has already told the media in Toronto that he'll consider anything and everything if he thinks it makes the team better, so nothing is really off the table at this point. But, if the Leafs wanted to make one more significant addition this summer without subtracting a core piece, it's very do-able.
| POLL | ||
JUILLET 6 | 822 ANSWERS The Leafs can fit a $7.4M player in under the cap without touching the core Will the Leafs pull off any trades this summer, and if so, which position will they target? | ||
| No, they won't make a trade | 149 | 18.1 % |
| Yes, they'll bring in another D | 166 | 20.2 % |
| Yes, they'll bring in a center | 280 | 34.1 % |
| Yes, they'll bring in a winger | 227 | 27.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
