not sure Marner will get 12 or Matthews 14
that's 59.7 million on 7 players - can't see the Leafs competing for cups with that D

Nylander compared himself to Draisaitl at 8+ million but settled for 7. Matthews will compare himself to being better than McDavid but may also take a 1 million $ paycut 13 million. Marner will ask for Eichel money of 10+ but takes a 1 million paycut down to 9. Kapanen will compare himself with Tbay's middle guys (Johnson, Gourde, Palat, Kilhorn, Miller) and ask for 5 million but will take a paycut down to 4 million range. Johnsson will compare himself to fellow Leafs, Hyman and Brown and he'll receive 2 million, give or take 1/2 million.

this is a sarcastic post, right?

Yes... it is also some outrageous contracts signed trades made contracts moved and fit in.

Mathews will get 10.5-12m marner will take 8- 9.5m and kappy will take 2-3m.

You hit the nail on the head there. With these contracts even when marleau comes off the following year that money is all spent in pay raises. This is exactly why these contracts won’t be paid out.

Pharrow and bcarlo25 will get you now with : "Kapanen will get 6M" ...even if bridge deal......

Oh Leaf fans.. Nylander was never getting 8+M his stat lines were far more comparable to multiple guys making closer to 6, this is a guy who hasnt even scored 50 goals in nearly 200 NHL games, is a 20 goal scorer at best and gets assists by passing to Matthews. These kids arent taking pay cuts to play in the most pain in the ass market in the world to play for, if anything theyre asking for more to put up with the constant fan and media microscope. Be as optimistic as you want but the fact is you will be Chicago/ LA in a few years when your depth goes to ****, Tavares loses a step and the injuries pile up from having liberties taken against you with zero push back.

Here they are......

While you could be right about the downside of playing in the Toronto market, there is lots of upside too.. like having players take part in the national ballet! Helping to round those young men into a fuller realization of their human pootential through their participation in the arts. Its good for players to start planning ahead for a career after hockey.

Regardless, I take Po's point to be that the leafs can be flexible enough to sign M and M to almost any amount. Sure, the higher their contracts go the less there is left for experienced depth. But if forced to deal with that, then the roster will be filled out with Ecls or reclamationprojects like Ennis, and supporting players will be shipped out when they command higher contracts. The leafs have a good plan moving forward and i highly doubt that the core they have identified is going anywhere. Their window to compete will be open for a long time.

1st Marners comparable is Kusherov which is 9.5 per and signing him early should bring that down the AAV to bout 9. Matthews will probably be round 11 per seeing i have a feeling the leafs capped max salary at 11 which compared to McDavid skill level is around market value. So though its possible they will try and change the market value if they don't they will have roughly 6 million more than you project in cap space.

Let's look at comparisons. RWer Kucherov starts his 9.5m contract next year. Is there any reason Marner should get the same amount as 9.5.? Nope Kucherov has a history of better performance. Kucherov was much closer to UFA eligiblilyt that Marner will be next summer. Matthews. Is he the best player in the NHL. Nope. Gotta believe multi trophy winner, including Hart winner McDavid who makes 12.5 starting this year is.
Next highest salary next is Doughty at 11m., then there are few players at the 10s. I have my own ideas "what is fair", but unless there is an offer sheet, or a player is prepared not to sign an NHL contract, there seems no reason Matthews and Marner top pay for their position. I don't expect any player getting his first big contract to take a discount, but I don't expect them to get a premium either.

Tmclean64. What a bunch of nonsense that Toronto is "the most pain in ass market to play in." Sure hasn't affected the young players who play here. Or Tavares who had the option of 31 teams to play for. Or European UFAs who sign here. So let's try to be factual. I'll be a factual, this rumour about Toronto being a tough place to play was started by one person. Brian Burke. Why? He was completely incompetent as a Leaf GM with an unlimited budget. So who does he blame. for his failing as GM and as a person.....the media mostly, but also the city and the fans. Most people were are fired can at least admit, their performance/results are a major reason for their dismissal. Why people still believe the propaganda Burke spouted years ago, I don't understand.
Now, I'll admit that Toronto is different that most NHL cities to play for. But tougher? Doubtful. Unfair media or fans? Definitely not . Media is "soft" on their team. And the fans, been nothing but supportive and forgiving for decades.

Your points on Burk are well founded. We should all be a lil skeptical of how narratives are developed, by who and for what reasons. Egos run rampant at the top of any industry, and Burke's ego comes off as barn sized.. tough for folks like that to take criticism, and when they do get criticized they can lash out and make it everyone s fault but their own. I find it interesting that now that he has run out of legitimate hockey operations opportunities, he has become a media talking head - the very people he blamed for his short comings in Toronto.

Burke was a media hog. It had to be about him.....always. So when he was questioned/criticized for the construction of his team, and their results, it was media, city and fans fault. I actually admire Burke, no one has accomplished so little in the NHL (his stay with Leafs and Calgary) and got paid so much.
He built the most expensive group of executives in his Leafs stay. Just my opinion, most of them never left the confirms of the Air Canada Centre or Toronto. Just sat around the dining table, telling each other how smart they were.
If Burke has a conscience, it must really gall him how beloved Shanahan and this group of executives/coaches/players are. Burke knows he had that opportunity but for whatever reasons could never achieve much success at all. IMO it was due to his incompetence and laziness. A bad combination for success in any aspects of business or life.

Agree with all of this! I thought it was pretty telling when burke got visibly angry when going on habout how dubas caved and Nylander is the leafs 6th best player. Thats his opinion, a d he's entitled to it. But seeing him get upset about how the leafs are being constructed smacks of how its eating him up that the leafs are enjoying success , while he realized little of that during his tenure.

Kucherov plays in a state with no income tax meaning his 9.5M is a lot more. Didn't we go over how terrible Toronto's tax rate is when Stamkos was rumored to possibly go there and that 8M in Florida is like 10M in Toronto? Seems like you left out the part where Kucherov's salary would have to be like 12M in Toronto to be nearly the same in Florida. My point is Marner would be stupid to sign for less than 10M.

No doubt that american teams that don't have state income tax have an advantage, but thats mostly an advantage over other american teams that do have a state income tax. Canadian nhl teams pay thier players in american dollars, and when the exchange rate is factored in and you consider that players are purchasing their goods demoninated in canadian currency, the advantage that teams like Tampa have over a team like toronto are neglible. Besides, if we're going down that rabbit hole than we need to consider that players on Canadian teams arent 3rd or 4th in line and comepting against NBA, MLB, NFL stars for endorsement deals.

State tax has a lot less to do with how much a player takes home. After escrow and jock tax federal income take you are talking about an amount that is so small that endorsement money more than makes up for it. The difference in a 10m contract from Toronto to Tampa a is about 1m. All 4 of the big 4 are making over 2m net in endorsements. And they don’t have to pay escrow or jock tax on that...

Is there such a thing as "jock tax" ? That seems discriminatory and unequitable...

There is yes, but it is only in the U.S. it’s about 100-200k that comes out of their pocket


It’s funny that people think these players in Florida take kucherov as an example are taking home 6.5m of a 9.5m contract. The reality is that it’s about 3-4m even in sunny florida. A player in Toronto will always bring in more money than one in Tampa. If this were such an issue do you not think owners would bring this up?

Lol! And thats the actual term, jock tax? I guess the tax man comes for all of us, even the jocks!

Agree with everything else you posted. Pre tax salaries and what we're left with after everyone else takes their pound of flesh are vastly different things. Even so, 3-4 M take home is nothing to sneeze at, so I say tax those jocks, redistribute that wealth to us peasants and lets raise a glass to Robin Hood!

C'mon please look at facts. Players are incorporated and do no pay personal tax rates....especially the high earner. Blue Jays and Raptors players do not demand more money to play in Toronto....because tax rates are not an issue. How can you honestly say "Kucherov plays in a state with no income tax meaning his 9.5M is a lot more." C'mon there is no STATE income tax but there certainly is a FEDERAL income tax. Plus in the US, individuals are taxed to where they earn there money no necessarily where they live.
Seems like you have deliberately left out the part of argument of what a players actually take home is. But the since Tampa has no cap space the only other team in Florida that could sign Marner would be the Florida Panthers. So by your argument (even it was true) every UFA and RFA would have to use the leverage that they were going to sign with the Panthers.

Don’t forget about Nevada, Tennessee and Texas. No state taxes there either but you never hear about that do you....peculiar isn’t it?.

You are absolutely right about players incorporating themselves. I can go over the difference they are “supposed” to make and show how insignificant the difference is but the fact is someone making even 5m a year is a big business and you know they have accountants on the payroll hitting every loophole they can find.

It is amazing that we have so tax experts on CapFriendly, I never suggest that players take a "hometown discount" but Marner would probably see the value in one. Look how Sittler, Salming, Gilmour, Clark and Sundin have been immortalized in LeafLand, despite never winning anything. If hometown Marner were to win a Cup as a Leaf, he would be a god for his playing career...and the rest of his life and more. Bobby Baun says "Scoring that playoff goal on a broken leg. It meant I never had to buy my own dinner at a restaurant in Toronto since 1964."

Getting back to taxes. I know a former 12 year NHL veteran who make approximately 20m during his playing days. He claims he never spent any of NHL salary when he was an NHLer. There was plenty of auxiliary money to be made. Wife, three kids, house, condo in Toronto. So it's not like he didn't have expenses.

https://www.tsn.ca/signing-with-leafs-would-mean-big-endorsement-payday-for-stamkos-marketers-say-1.517701

"If he was paid 10million US a season by the Maple Leafs he'd only take home about 3.8 million anually..." "By contrast based on a 10 million salary, Stamkos would take home about 5 Million if he resigned with Tampa Bay."
Bro you're litterally an idiot if you think TSN isn't credible or maybe they just didn't explain it to you the right way. I'm going with what they said because I think everyone at TSN has a much better clue than you personally do. Please come up with someone professional writing what you are suggesting if you wish to have this debate go any further. The fact that Stamkos could have made more money on endorsements doesn't count in this debate because Marner will never be the best player on the leafs and therefore he'll have to take whatevers leftover from sponsors.

Sorry, bro you the idiot. Keep on making up your false statements just because you're angry because you don't know what you are talking about. First, if you have the willingness, look at the personal tax rate in Ontario. The highest rate isn't 62% as you suggest. Keep on watching TV for all your information if you want but you certainly got that part of incorrect. I haven't even looked up the personal tax rate for Florida, but I doubt the Federal Tax rate is 50% as you suggest, . TSN and any media can look up personal tax rates. But as I suggested and know, players do not pay personal tax rates, unless they want to take out all of their income out of their corporation.

It's OK for you to be an idiot, but to be so lazy you can't even look personal tax rates.....how sad. And to criticize me for being able to look personal tax rates and you can't. How pathetic are you.?