Easily. Put Horton on IR, give Mitch 2mil less, raise cap space to actually what it would be to 83mil and you will get almost 11mil to sign 9 players. Sign Kappy to 3x3 deal, give Johnsson 1.5x2, use Rosen with new contract 750kx2 and you would end up with 5.75mil of cap space for 6 players. which is doable since you got prospects under 1mil who WILL play next year in Moore and Grundstrom. Sign Jensen on right side and Oz as well to 1.1milx1yr contracts and it is pretty easily doable.

considering nylander got ~7 million a year marner will get at least 10, especially the way he has played this year

That's absurd. If Marner gets over 9 he should be lucky.

Marner is great but he has got Tavares on his line which is pretty helpful imo. Point is arguably better overall player than Marner and he would get around 9.. Marner would be between 8-9. He is not going to be paid more than Kucherov.

Leafs fans love their players except when talking salary.

Someone should show Marner and Matthews these posts saying what they are worth.

I think you under value Marner
My point is the Leafs have a serious problem next year. I updated the signings, even if you take 3 million away from Marner the Leafs are in cap hell.
The next conversation we should be having is about the cap itself. It is ruining teams that have great players. My belief is that teams that have drafted (their own) players should either not count against the cap or get a discount.

sooooo no gardiner? shouldnt be a problem right?

Obviously without Gardiner. He is not affordable.

I think Marner at 9 is pretty logical i have always Marner at 9. Kucherov basically got 10 (tax ****) and he was after two great seasons and one of them 100 point one. My point is, Marner is going to get paid but that payment should be logical for both sides and I find 9mil the best solution for both sides. Also other sources of money in toronto (ads and so so on) are second main source of money. 9mil for Marner is the price what I think would be the actual contract. Could be more, could be less but imo 9mil is the best solution for both sides.

There is a very interesting article in The Athletic discussing % of cap going star players. Based on what is being laid out in that read, Matthews lines up for around $13 million; Marner $10 million.

Now, i suspect that somewhat cooler heads prevail here. I See Matthews at $11.5 million and Marner at $9 million (Marner being the more difficult to assess as he is a benefactor of Traveres).

The money is there guys, but that blueline is gonna be awefully thin for a tear or two for my liking..... Gardiner is as good as gone, Hainsey has served a purpose. It may have potential, but for a Cup run..... thin is thr word.

Effective tax rate puts Kucherov at $12.25M AAV in Toronto net the same what he does in Tampa. His $9.5M is basically a discount lol

Also mathews and marner already stated they are not going to sign contracts until after FA they want to see how much some teams will ante up for them, there could be offers of 14+ for mathews But none the less mathews will command between 11-13m most likely 12, and marner 10+ not to sure on his exact value but if kane got 7m being a 50 point player marner will fetch a much bigger amount.

First let's be realistic. The cap will be 83m not 79.5m. Leafs can't/won't resign UFA Jake Gardiner. He's a UFA, he is not a Leaf. Marner at 11m...that would make him a second highest player in the league. C'mon you really think a player coming his ELC is getting that. Kucherov at starting next season, with a better resume and closer to a UFA get "just" 9.5m
So base the your Leafs cap on that. The question will be Leafs go with inexperienced and inexpensive Dmen to replace Hainsey and Gardiner. If they do, they will be fine cap wise. If they feel a better/more expensive Dman is necessary, then an expensive would have to be traded for cap reason.

It's really nonsense that players pay personal tax rates, especially high end salaried ones. First instance, we never hear about Blue Jays or Raptors having to pay a tax premium. So personal tax rates is almost meaningless. Only on this site do we have so many called tax experts

It's more to do with the province's tax rate versus somewhere that is state tax free. Obviously applies to anyone who lives in that region. Maybe the reason why we don't hear about other sports as often is due to the fact that:

A) The NBA and MLB have much higher salary caps/payroll (some cases almost DOUBLE)
B) Players in those sports are making far more than an NHLer. I mean for crying out loud Russell Martin is getting $20M this season. Relative to his sport is Martin 2x better than Kucherov at his? Not a chance.

I'm not an accountant but I have a Masters in Finance

Remember everything goes by percentage of what the salary cap is so cap goes up so do players salaries Marner gets a minimum 9.5 mill and matthews gets min 12.5 both can def be signed under the salary cap but leaves no money left for a dman (which they desperately need) not to mention all of there other rfas

Between the cap being where it is and taxes in Canada the Leafs have a serious problem going forward. Bolts can pat Stamkos 8 mill or what ever a year cause he gets most if not all of that. For a Leaf to get 8 mill the Leafs have to pay upwards of 11 mill I believe. I hope this gets addressed at the next CBA.

the main problems is obv cap space but getting rid of a 50 point d man and replacing him with prospect isnt the answer lol. the d core is already shakey at best. why not just throw in a few rookies for the sole reason that theyre a 900k cap hit.

Yes we do love our players and that is why we think Austin mathews will be the second highest paid player in the nhl and marner the 4th highest paid winger in the league (he will be 6th after laine and Rantanen sign their new contracts)

I don’t see any leafs fans saying marner is the best winger in the nhl or mathews is the best player in the nhl.

Mathews should get 11-12m and marner 8.5m-9.5m.



I’m not sure where you heard this but Matthews is completely open to signing during the season. Marner isn’t signing till after the season is finished but from what I’ve heard dubas is still having discussions with his agent. I find it comical that you think you need to go back to the Kane signing to find a comparable.

kane signing was just a memorable one as was JVR bost 2nd line wingers recieving 7m+ so this means marner will be looking towards 10+ being he is that much better and kuch only got a 9.5m deal because in TB they get taxed much less so a 9.5m in TB is like 11+ in toronto one of the most taxed cities to play for.

So why don’t you bring your Kuch is 9.5m in Florida to arbitration??? You can’t. There are 3 other states with nhl teams and no state tax and I never hear anything about them. The fact that few people account for jock tax and escrow and no very little about what a nhler takes home on a personal tax rate is the perfect reason why you shouldn’t use it as an argument. Most players with endorsements are incorporated anyway.

Marner falls easily between gaudreau Draisaitl and kucherov in terms of production. 8.5-9.5m seems more than fair. To be honest in terms of play I don’t think there is a better comparable for marner than Gaudreau.

Marner isn't getting $10M and if he won't accept less, Leafs move him. He's had a great season, no doubt. But his stats are comparable to Draisaitl and he only got $8.5M. Marner's had one season over a point per game, and it took bringing in John Tavares for that to start happening. If he's a $10M player, he has well over that by now. Jack Eichel is another comparable (sorta). They had similar point totals in their first 2 seasons, then the last year of their ELC they produced better. Now you can argue both ways who's better Eichel or Marner, and both sides could win that argument. Only difference is, Eichel is a centre and it's a well known fact that centres get paid more than wingers because they have a greater impact on the teams game. So Marner's absolute top dollar is $10M, that's where he starts the ASKING price in contract talks, you always have to ask for more than you think you'll get cause you never know what the team might say at first. Toronto won't sign him for $10M. Not a chance. Realistically, if he signs the full 7 or 8 year long term deal he'll come in between $8.5-$9M. If he signs a shorter term deal that's been mentioned, say 5 or 6 years, he'll probably be around $7.5-$8M because it buys out less of his UFA years and he can demand a higher salary (over $10M when that deal expires). Leafs would be smarter to lock him up long term IMO, but if he won't take less than $10, trade him. No team can afford to have 3 players making over $10M and with Tavares already making $11 and Matthews guaranteed to make at least the same as Tavares, sorry but Marner is the odd man out there.

And people like you love talking about the cap trouble the Leafs are facing, when Tampa and Winnipeg are in the same position. But hey I know it’s hard for you to sleep at night knowing that the leafs are finally good

Wow...wow... so many comments on here on both sides of the ledger.

1. If you don't think the players ultimate take-home pay has an affect on where/what he signs for you're out to lunch. Stamkos/Hedman/Kucherov all signed below "market value" because they knew their lower cap hits would allow everyone to fit and that $8.5/$9.5 in Florida is the same as $11m+ in other provinces/states. It is very much a factor.

2. Just because you don't hear about it in other sports doesn't make it an issue there. California guys like Curry and Lebron take home about 44-50% of their actual pay. Kyle Lowry takes home about 42%. Maybe the fact that lucrative sponsorship dollars available to NBA stars far outweighs that of NHL stars to offset the complaints.

In MLB, I know that it is something that gets negotiated into player contracts. When Jose Reyes was traded from Miami to Toronto, Miami ownership was responsible for paying him the difference in salary as a result of the tax implications.

3. Jake Gardiner will not be a Leaf next year. His play/production puts him in around $6m/yr which won't fit. Dermott will likely take his minutes and someone else will come in to take 3rd line minutes on the left side

4. If Mitch Marner doesn't accept less than $10m they'll trade him? I can't see that being remotely true. They are more likely to move complimentary pieces like Johnsson/Kap/Brown/Hyman and replace with ELC or low salary vets in order to make room for both Matthews and Marner.

5. Marner is having a career year because of Tavares? Look, I'm sure a part of that is true, but Marner has been on a 100+ point pace since he was moved off the 4th line last January. IMO, it'm more accurate to say that Tavares is having a career year because of Marner. Realistically, they both make each other better...but if you're actually watching the games, you see that a lot of Tavares' goals are directly related to the playmaking of Marner.

6. It's comical the number of posts on both sides about Marner saying "He'll get at least $10m" or "He should be happy to get $8m". Personally, I don't think it's fair to compare him with other wingers. He runs his line like a center, plays the power play QB like a #1 d-man, disrupts the other team's offense like a Selke candidate with all the deflected passes and take aways, and has scored or assisted on over 35% of the entire team's offense. Him and his agent are well within their rights to ask for $10-11m. I'm sure the leafs will start closer to $8m or maybe less. Where they end up is anyone's guess right now...but he might be the Leafs' most important player.

7. Cap Hell. I love this term when referencing the Leafs. The closest thing the Leafs have to a 'bad contract' is Zaitsev...and it's debateable. Cap Hell , to me, is when you're innundated with several bad, long-term contracts and your team is crap. The Leafs have a plethora of riches right now as far as assets go. Yes, they'll need to be creative to get everyone signed...but 'hell'? Not even close.

8. I will agree that there are a lot of Leaf fans on here that place wicked high value on our players when it comes to trade talk, but are reluctant to give them contracts deserving of that same value