The Maple Leafs made a blockbuster trade at the sleepy end of Free Agent Day. They subtracted Nazem Kadri and Calle Rosen from the roster and added Tyson Barrie at half his normal cap hit, and acquired the rights to Alexander Kerfoot.

Toronto Maple Leafs trade Nazem Kadri to the Avalanche for Tyson Barrie

Kerfoot might hold the key to the rest of the Leafs’ summer. His contract and how it fits in with Mitch Marner’s will determine if there is any room left for anyone else.

Maple Leafs Cap Space as of Juy 1: evening

NameCap Hit (or Qualifying Offer)Days in NHL If 2-wayProrated Cap HitProjected Roster
One-Way Contracts
Auston Matthews11,634,00011,634,00011,634,000
John Tavares11,000,00011,000,00011,000,000
William Nylander6,962,3666,962,3666,962,366
Andreas Johnsson3,400,0003,400,0003,400,000
Kasperi Kapanen3,200,0003,200,0003,200,000
Zach Hyman2,250,0002,250,0002,250,000
Trevor Moore775,000775,000775,000
Nic Petan775,000775,000775,000
Kevin Gravel700,000700,000
Jason Spezza700,000700,000700,000
Kenny Agostino700,000700,000
Nick Shore750,000750,000750,000
Morgan Rielly5,000,0005,000,0005,000,000
Jake Muzzin4,000,0004,000,0004,000,000
Tyson Barrie2,750,0002,750,0002,750,000
Justin Holl675,000675,000675,000
Ben Harpur725,000725,000
Martin Marincin700,000700,000700,000
Frederik Andersen5,000,0005,000,0005,000,000
Garrett Sparks750,000750,000750,000
Michael Hutchinson 700,000700,000
Nathan Horton5,300,0005,300,0005,300,000
Two-Way Contracts
Frederik Gauthier675,000180675,000
Travis Dermott863,333180863,333863,333
Ilya Mikheyev925,00000925,000
Egor Korshkov925,00000
Pierre Engvall925,00000
Jeremy Bracco842,50000
Semyon Der Arguchintsev783,33300
Mason Marchment767,50000
Adam Brooks759,16700
Dmytro Timashov694,44400
Rasmus Sandin894,16700
Timothy Liljegren863,33300
Joe Duszak800,00000
Mac Hollowell799,76600
Teemu Kivihalme792,50000
Jesper Lindgren775,83300
Aaron Luchuk759,16600
Andreas Borgman700,00000
Ian Scott805,83300
Joseph Woll800,00000
Kasimir Kaskisuo675,000622,500
Qualifying Offers
Cody Ceci4,300,0004,300,000
Alex Kerfoot874,125180874,125
Mitch Marner874,125874,125
Retained1,200,0001,200,000
Total:77,255,44968,609,699
Salary Cap81,500,00081,500,000
10% overage8,150,000
Total:89,650,000
Cap Space12,394,55112,890,301

Notes:

  • I’ve added all the rumoured signings and tried to come up with a projected regular season roster that has all the players likely to be on the team on it.
  • Missing from this calculation is Ceci’s reported $4.5 million, and whatever Kerfoot and Marner sign for./

Right now the offseason space is fine, and Marner can be signed, and likely the other two will fit without LTIR being invoked, but it’s there if needed. The Leafs are now substantially less at risk of an offer sheet for Mitch Marner being impossible to match.

If you assume this roster, or one similar, and add in Ceci’s $4.5 million, the space becomes: $8,390,301. And if you do the quick and dirty LTIR on Horton’s $5.3 million and just add those together you have $13,690,000 to sign Marner and Kerfoot. If Kerfoot signs for the projection Evolving Hockey has of $2.8 million, that leaves over $10 million to squeak in Marner’s contract.

And that means, all of this fits, and if more than 10 million is needed, all the Leafs have to do is run a short press box.

If this is true:

Then the squeeze is back on a little.

Kyle Dubas got that top four defender, can sign everyone, and did the impossible. Just in the hardest and most painful way possible. It was a sharp cut, and I’m not sure we can feel yet.