Congrats for exceeding the cap and having a week LW lol

Gardiner isn't signing for $2M but I would like it and hopefully he is paired with Ceci for Game 7 in Boston. They would create a lot of havoc....in their own zone

Leafs can exceed cap limit by 1.5M because of LTIR cap relief after Clarkson deal and Marner signing in season.

2M is more than what Gardiner is making right now as a UFA no? It’s a “prove your back is alright” deal and allows him to play where he wants to play.

Wow great point. He should sign for $1. It's more than hes making now right?

Is Marner really worth 50% more than Nylander? I struggle with that every time I see an 8 figure salary for a good winger.

Might as well just add him to the 26 other guys the Leafs just signed at league min.

Dubas won't sign Marner to a 5 year deal either going to be a 4 or 6 if its a 5 good luck signing Matthews, Nylander and Marner in the same year

It won't be a four...that takes Marner right into free agency. What's so bad about a five year deal? Maybe the three upcoming UFAs will have great seasons leading into free agency. So they are free agents, it's 28m the Leafs have in cap space. Signing UFAs, no team should expect to sign their own UFAs, after all they are FREE.

I don't know where you got this idea, but you are wrong. The cap formula on here is a best case scenario assuming they get the max relief possible, so you cannot exceed the cap number by 1.5 million. And Marner signing in season would make it even more complicated and would not be beneficial capwise.
The cap figure is calculated on a daily basis. The later he signs, the fewer days his salary is spread across resulting in a larger cap hit. If he signed 30 days into the season with a 10.5 million AAV , his cap hit for the year would be about 12.5 million. And since they will not be accruing cap space during that time he isn't signed, they won't be able to cover that unless they trade some other higher salary players to make room.

Say what you will, and I agree its not likely but if you explore the idea its not that far fetched.

He's FA and was probably hoping for a sizeable long term deal. July 1 hits and no one is offering him the money or the cap hit he was asking for. So he's waiting to see if its coming but it just hasn't. Maybe he's getting some low risk short term deals. Teams offering him much less than he wants and over 2 years because he had back issues last season. If that's case, is deciding to stay in the city you currently live in with a 1 year old and take a very small 1 year deal to rebuild your stock a bad idea? It saves the upheaval of your family, you are in a familiar organization with players you know and you have an excellent chance at competing for a cup. There are a lot of positives to staying in TO for a 1 year deal.

Of course all that hinges on what offers he's getting from other teams, but from what insiders are saying no term is what he's being offered right now and meager dollars as well. It might be in his best long term interests to do a 1 year deal and rebuild his stock.

it won't happen that would bad management on Dubas signing him to a 5 year deal.

1 x 2 for Jake Gardiner, He'd tell Dubas to get lost.