The Toronto Maple Leafs are $3 million over the Salary Cap, despite currently having a significantly worse roster than they ended the season with.
I get that people want to be optimistic, but if you think the Toronto Maple Leafs are better now than they were last month, you are delusional (in the best possible way, because you’re also looking at the positive side of things, and that’s respectable).
There is no way the Leafs are better.
Their blue-line lost Justin Holl, Luke Schenn and Erik Gustufsson. T.J Brodie and Marc Giordano experienced significant age-related decline last year and it will take a miracle for them to maintain the status quo.
All they added was John Klingberg, one of the worst players in the NHL last season.
Toronto Maple Leafs Currently $3 Million Over Cap With Worse Team
On forward, Tyler Bertuzzi is a great addition, but he is replacing a younger player (Bunting) who already has the better career season and who was making 900K vs Bertuzzi’s $5 million.
The only chance the Leafs have of being better in their top-six next year is if Matthew Knies is an instant star as a rookie. Then they are better up front, but the odds of that can’t even be 50/50.
Why the Leafs spent $8 + million they didn’t need to spend on Max Domi, Ryan Reaves and John Klingberg while getting significantly worse at every position and still being way over the cap is a mystery no one can ever explain.
Max Domi is an OK pick-up, but he’s not really any better than Kerfoot, and even if he is, he isn’t better than Kerfoot + Acciari + Ryan O’Reilly.
So the Leafs are worse and that is indisputable.
And they are over the cap by $8+ million, minus Jake Muzzin’s Long-Term Injury erasing his cap-hit, leaving them currently $3 206 450 over the salary cap (All Cap info Capfriendly.com).
The Leafs need to sign Ilya Samsonov, or they have to keep Murray and start Joseph Woll. I don’t hate that idea, but when Murray gets injured, who plays?
The longer this drags out, the easier it is to see them panicking and overpaying to get rid of Murray.
The Toronto Maple Leafs current bottom six likely looks like this:
Domi-Kampf-Jarnkrok
Lafferty – Holmberg – Reaves
Now, that really isn’t good, no matter how you look at it. That will be among the worst bottom-six lineups in the league. There is basically no upside here, and it’s expensive. If the Leafs are lucky, Nick Robertson will be healthy and someone like Fraser Minten, Ty Voit or Roni Hirvonen will force their way onto the team.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are way over the cap, their depth is gone, their blue-line is worse, they don’t have a goalie, they don’t have a have a number-one defenseman and their new GM has done horribly so far.
Brodie, Jarnkrok and Murray can save you $12 million. If you can move them, you’d have $3 million to cover Samsonov, you’d cover the current deficit (they are $3 million over) and have six million left.
If you also then traded William Nylander for a recent top draft pick on an ELC, you would then have enough to bring in Erik Karlsson. That makes the forwards worse, but adds upside and flexibility, while solving both the blue-line and the goalie positions.
Whatever happens, you have to feel bad for Brandon Pridham, because he’s got a rep a “salary cap genius” but his team currently spends almost $20 million on Kampf, Domi, Jarnkrok, Reaves, Lafferty, Klingberg and Murray.
Brad Treliving is struggling and this summer has been brutal for the once promising Toronto Maple Leafs.
DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Red Wings made another investment this week in a young standout, signing Moritz Seider to a seven-year contract worth nearly $60 million.
The Red Wings announced the move with the 23-year-old German defenseman on Thursday, three days after keeping 22-year-old forward Lucas Raymond with a $64.6 million, eight-year deal.
Detroit drafted Seider with the No. 6 pick overall eight years ago and he has proven to be a great pick. He has 134 career points, the most by a defenseman drafted in 2019.
He was the NHL’s only player to have at least 200 hits and block 200-plus shots last season, when he scored a career-high nine goals and had 42 points for the second straight year.
Seider won the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie in 2022 after he had a career-high 50 points.
Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman is banking on Seider, whose contract will count $8.55 million annually against the cap, and Raymond to turn a rebuilding team into a winner.
Detroit has failed to make the playoffs in eight straight seasons, the longest postseason drought in franchise history.
The Red Wings, who won four Stanley Cups from 1997 to 2008, have been reeling since their run of 25 straight postseasons ended in 2016.
Detroit was 41-32-9 last season and finished with a winning record for the first time since its last playoff appearance.
Yzerman re-signed Patrick Kane last summer and signed some free agents, including Vladimir Tarasenko to a two-year contract worth $9.5 million after he helped the Florida Panthers hoist the Cup.
PENTICTON, B.C. – Vancouver Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko says he’s been working his way back from a rare lower-body muscle injury since being sidelined in last season’s playoffs.
The 28-year-old all star says the rehabilitation process has been frustrating, but he has made good progress in recent weeks and is confident he’ll be able to return to playing.
He says he and his medical team have spent the last few months talking to specialists around the world, and have not found a single other hockey player who has dealt with the same injury.
Demko missed several weeks of the last season with a knee ailment and played just one game in Vancouver’s playoff run last spring before going down with the current injury.
He was not on the ice with his teammates as the Canucks started training camp in Penticton, B.C., on Thursday, but skated on his own before the sessions began.
Demko posted a 35-14-2 record with a .918 percentage, a 2.45 goals-against average and five shutouts for Vancouver last season.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
Alysha Newman was initially disappointed when her historic season, marked by an Olympic medal and record-breaking performances, came to a close.
The 30-year-old from Delaware, Ont., finished third in the Diamond League final on Saturday, clearing 4.80 metres in the women’s pole vault. That capped a campaign where Newman overcame an ankle injury late in the indoor season to win Olympic bronze.
“The first emotion I had was I was kind of sad,” she said. “With the injury that happened in March, I felt like I was two, maybe four weeks, I guess, behind everyone. So I was still really motivated to compete.
“I know the world rankings came out (Wednesday) and I was second, so my coaches texted me this morning and said, ‘highest finish ever of all time, you deserve a great break.’ And that just made me really excited.”
Newman enjoyed consistency heading into the Paris Games, clearing 4.75 metres or more in three of her last four meets after returning from injury.
Heading into Paris, Newman held the Canadian record of 4.83 metres, achieved indoors on Feb. 22. Her outdoor best was 4.82 metres, set in 2019—the last time she finished a season ranked in the top five, at No. 3.
Before this year, Newman had never medalled on the world or Olympic stage, but she reset her national record to 4.85 metres in Paris to become the first Canadian woman to medal in pole vault at the Games.
Only William Halpenny (bronze at the 1912 Stockholm Games) and Edward Archibald (bronze at the 1908 London Games) had medalled for Canada in pole vault before Newman.
“I was just telling my mom last night … I’m doing so many things, and I haven’t been able to sit. But I did go to Nice three days after I got my medal, and I sat and kind of just enjoyed having that medal and more so what it took to get that,” Newman said.
“Felt like a diploma. It felt like a reward that, you know, here’s hardware for your hard work, and it really was rewarding for me to sit in the moment.”
Newman called it “one of the most unforgettable seasons I’ll ever have in my career.”
“A part of me feels that I needed a season like this to take it even more serious, leading into (the 2028) L.A. (Olympics),” she said. “I think it shows me that this is where my life is supposed to be. I am supposed to be this incredible textbook pole vaulter.”
Newman now has motivation beyond just winning medals; she believes she can break the world record of 5.06 metres set by Russia’s Yelena Isinbayeva in 2009.
Outside of competition, Newman is dedicated to helping the next generation of athletes, from raising funds for a high-performance facility in Caledon, Ont., to advocating for better resources and pay in her sport.
“Leading into L.A., I really want to make noise in the sport on helping amateur athletes get paid,” said Newman, who famously supplements her income with an OnlyFans account. “I think we underestimate what we put our bodies through and a lot of us do this for free, but it’s not free.”
“Starting with building the facility to get more athletes to qualify for the Olympics would be my No. 1 goal. And then after that is really having movement and words that will start, you know, getting people more on board and agree for us to get paid better.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
