The Toronto Maple Leafs finished 11th in Daily Faceoff’s salary cap rankings heading into the 2024-25 season. Toronto sees a nine-spot improvement over their rankings in Daily Faceoff’s list from last year where they finished 20th. This year sees them edging out the Bruins and placing just behind Utah and the Stars who both cracked the top 10.
2024-25 NHL TEAM SALARY CAP RANKINGS:
Teams #16-9
The second-best tier in @scotmaxw‘s list features secondary Stanley Cup contenders, teams on the rise and more.
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— Daily Faceoff (@DailyFaceoff) September 5, 2024
The reason given by Daily Faceoff’s Scott Maxwell for the Leafs slotting in at 11th on the salary cap rankings is due to Brad Treliving improving on navigating around the top-heavy portion of the team’s cap space to create a team that is more cap efficient and still competitive. Maxwell’s model likes the way the Leafs are constructed in relation to how much they are spending on their players, with the big win coming from the fact that Toronto has no dead cap space on their books. The model finds the Leafs’ ability to find quality cheap contracts to be below-average with the main concern being their instance on giving players an NTC or an NMC on their deals.
While some Leafs fans may scoff at the fact their team finished outside the top 10 in salary cap given their desire to see the Core Four broken up, it’s hard to argue with the fact that Treliving had a good summer in terms of the contracts he signed for returnees and new arrivals. When I went over the contracts handed out in early July, there was only one deal that got a grading worse than a C+ which was Jani Hakanpaa’s reported deal. There are certainly reasons to be concerned some of the contracts may not age well (Chris Tanev), but Treliving was able to get good value on the deals he signed for the most part.
It certainly helps that the NHL salary cap is finally starting to rise after being stagnant for five years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now percentage of the cap dedicated to the core five will slowly decrease over time which allows room for Toronto to make further moves down the line. The likes of Mitch Marner, John Tavares, Jake McCabe, and Matthew Knies among others being due for extensions could eat up that space depending on what they sign for, but that’s a story for another time.
For now, Leafs fans can rejoice in seeing their team being regarded as one of the better team’s in the NHL regarding their salary cap. Whether or not that will translate to where it matters most remains to be seen at this time.
