NHLPA reveals that the salary cap is going up even more than expected next year; huge news for the Leafs

Since this past summer, we knew that the salary cap would experience a much larger bump in the summer of 2024 than it received in 2023. As the players continue to pay off the escrow owed to the owners for their share of the COVID-19 layoff and loss of revenues from playing in front of empty arenas, that debt is about to go away, which means a large jump from the current $83.5M salary cap.

Prior to this week, it was believed that the cap would rise between $4M and $4.5M, ending up as high as $88M next season. However, comments from Marty Walsh, the executive director for the NHLPA, suggest that the salary cap may increase even more than originally expected.





This is music to the ears of Leafs Nation, as the Leafs have been very tight up against the cap since the start of the John Tavares era in Toronto - and especially through the COVID-ravaged NHL, which flattened the cap directly after the Leafs paid Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner huge money, banking on a rising cap.

Obviously, even if the cap goes up, the Leafs will remain a cap team, but the rising cap opens up so many possibilities for the Buds and allows them a great deal of financial flexibility that they have not had in years. If the cap rises as much as Walsh is projecting, the Leafs will have no problem paying William Nylander - especially with T.J. Brodie's $5M also coming off the books. They'll also be shedding a lot of LTIR dollars, as the contracts of Jake Muzzin, Matt Murray and John Klingberg all resolve in the summer. Then there are the contracts of Tyler Bertuzzi and Max Domi finishing up, which opens an additional $8.5M.

Obviously, the Leafs will need to bring in enough bodies to ice a full roster next season, so it's basically going to be money out, money in, but if Brad Treliving can optimize his spending, the Leafs will have a chance to really do some damage this summer.