Report: New NHL rules may be huge benefit to Leafs

According to a report from Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the NHL salary cap could rise to as much as $80 million next season. 

“There is a sense and a hope that they’re going to hear that the league is hoping for something in the neighbourhood of $80 million,” Friedman said during Hockey Night in Canada’s Saturday Headlines segment.

The salary cap is currently set at $75 million, with the Toronto Maple Leafs are bumping right up against the upper limit and are projected to finish the season with exactly $0 in cap space. To say that they could use the extra $5 million annual is an understatement. The sense so far is that pending unrestricted free-agents James van Riemsdyk, Tyler Bozak and Leo Komarov would have to be sacrificed this upcoming offseason in favour of negotiating with William Nylander, Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner. But… with such a large increase in the cap, could the Leafs have their cake and eat it too? Can they re-up all of their young guns and afford to keep one or more of their veterans around?

While the increase still has to get the official approval of the NHL Board of Governors and the NHLPA, don’t be surprised if the Leafs get a little more Monopoly money to play with this offseason.