You put Horton on the LTIR when you are up at the cap so that 4M plus the 5M you at 9M. I don’t think Mathews will get 12 but I will leave that alone. The fourth line will be either ELC or veteran making close to the league mom which I think is 700K in 20/21 so let’s say 2.5M on the fourth line leaves 6.5M two Hansiney/Polak type Dman and An ELC and that will be about 5.5M and a backup goalie at about 900K.

It's not going to work. They have this year. They still have no D and an average at best goalie.

The only team that was able to pay two guys 10m+ and be good is Chicago and that crumbled quickly. They won the year before they paid Kane and Toews & They were good for two years, but were also bounced in the 1st rd twice and failed to make the playoffs this last year. They were also forced to move a guy like Panarin for a much lesser player.

They have this year, but once you start paying more than one guy over 10M+ it's incredibly hard to win.

Chicago also had Keith (and at the time) seabrook on great deals. Kadri is on a great deal, but a top pairing D is probably more useful than 2nd line center being paid and playing 3rd line.

wait? why do you think he shouldn't count against the Leafs cap?
Im not questioning you I just maybe don't understand the CBA about this then. As far as I'm concerned, the leafs should see no relief.

and you are then basically praying that non of your guys you need to sign have a good year/years? Like kapenen has the ability to score 20+ next season, I gave him a bridge deal to lead up to a 4+ contract.
Mathews probably could get 12 million in my opinion. He is a 40 goal scorer that is 21ish years old, same agent as Mcdavid.

I don’t don’t know all the CBA rules but I have created team and notice if you are against the Cap you can put him on LTIR and get all or very close to his contract not going against the Cap. I don’t know what that means for the next season. Like the PB but then Marleau contract is off the books. I don’t think you can say Mcdavid and Mathews are at the same level I think they need to take advantage of that and get him in at about 10 to 11

yea im not sure either. but i feel like they shouldn't get 100% relief from his contract.
Mathews and McDavid are not close in my Opinion. McDavid is the best player on the planet, but i still think Mathews good and will command around 11 - 12 million. The Leafs need to convince him(Mathews) he isn't as good as JT and pray he has a down year (good luck) but I feel like if he will out produce him in the long run.
the leafs window to win is right now as I think things will only get tougher on them since they signed JT. Good on them but I think it could hurt them in the long run

As long as the cap goes up Seattle coming to the league will help. I think if Mathews 10M Marner at 8 Nylander at 7 a solid Dman at about 5 with Riley, Dermott, Zhitev they should be ok. I agree it might get tricky.

If I understand it correctly, they get the cap relief Once they have reached the cap. So, they have to be at 79.5 and then they can exceed for up to Horton's cap hit, but can only do so with one player. It doesn't open the space up immediately. It was put in place to not hurt teams who lose a player throughout the season.

So If Toronton is at 79m at the deadline, they can LTIR Horton and add 5.3 -.5 (current space) - thus adding a player who makes 4.75m, but if they added a player for 3m, They cannot add another for 1.75 to make up the whole of his salary.

*I think.

Don't know why folks think Seattle is going to help the cap that much. Their expansions fees have nothing to do with revenue sharing,

Getting back to the the posted 2019/20 roster. Yes it's possible that the Leafs sign all current RFAs and fill the remaining eight positions internally. Now one issue will be that young/experienced defence by good enough. So maybe a UFA signing of Ryan Ellis and a trading of let's say Nylanderwill be necessary. But that isn't unique to the Leafs, that how teams manage the cap.
Now some folks think when the Marleau leaves, the Leafs are going to have 6.25 in new found money. But if Dermott Grudstrom, Kapanen Johnson and others are deserving of big contracts,,,,it's still kinda of a cap issue.
But having too many good players isn't a problem cap wise, because one or two can always be traded for cheaper futures. "Cap Hell" is when a team can't trade overpaid players, or have salary retention or buyouts. Leafs (and all teams) are hope to avoid my definition of "Cap Hell". Having too many good players should be the goal of all teams.

Regarding next season cap. Horton can placed on LTIR during the summer of 2019. Since the Leafs will be only about .5m. for that season, cap in 2019/20 is not an issue. Actually this 2018/19 the Leafs will likely carry 12.5 in cap of Performance Bonus from 2017/18, 2018/19 and Hortons 5.3m. Realistically have 3m in cap space starting 2018/19 after Nylander is signed. The Leafs carry Horton on the roster so they can pay the 2018/19. bonuses in this current season. Leafs will need cap next year when Matthews and Marner get big raises.

Seattle coming into the league will increase Revenue which is connected to the Cap. The franchise fee goes to the owners.

I don't think Seattle is coming into the NHL until 2021 at the earliest.
Seattle doesn't even have an actually NHL rink(last I heard) and Key Arena is a major renovation.

Good to ask the question. For the answer Yes We Can, see “Can't Afford Everyone - In Depth” by Townsy_17 and “Cap Trouble in 2019? Nonsense” by me, although it contains some flaws which I am in the process of correcting.

There are four main schools of thought about curing this problem:

1. Trade William Nylander. This move would cure the problem immediately and permanently. The disadvantage is that it gives up a very good player, and I think should be considered only if there are no alternatives. A lot of us believe that there are.
2. Trade Freddie Andersen and his $5M cap hit. The obvious advantage of this move is that once again, it cures the problem immediately and probably permanently. The disadvantage is equally obvious: how are you going to replace him? Probably impractical.
3. Trade (a) Connor Brown or (b) Kasperi Kapanen. This alleviates but does not solve the problem completely. (It requires other adjustments, most of which involve weakening the defense.) The drawback to (a) is that Kapanen may turn out to be another Jake Virtanen or Nick Ritchie. The drawback to (b) is that Kapanen may turn out to be another William Nylander.
4. Trade Jake Gardiner this year for a less expensive defenseman. (Stephen Johns or Jon Merrill, anyone?) This is better than playing him this year and then letting him walk when his contract is up. This approach has the most appeal to me. Getting reasonable defenders from unforeseen sources is not uncommon. (See Las Vegas.) On the other hand, an offense of Marleau-Tavares-Nylander/Hyman-Matthews-Marner/Johnsson-Kadri-Kapanen set for two solid years is a top nine that no team can match. The other team may be wary of trading for a player with only one year left on his contract, but I would be willing to add a very high draft pick to sweeten the deal. (Even a first rounder is not out of the question, because essentially you’d be exchanging Gardiner and a first-round pick for John Tavares.)

My strong feeling is that Dubas is going to keep the top nine together and find a LW to play with Tavares and Nylander when Marleau retires a Stanley Cup champion.