Toronto Maple Leafs: How they can afford to sign Tyson Barrie to a long-term deal
Hope salary cap gets a big boost
Out of all the suggestions, this one might be easiest considering the Leafs would benefit the most from any salary cap increase and it would mean that Dubas doesn’t have to do as much to make the team cap compliant.
Teams felt the crunch of not having the salary cap go up to the projected $83 million which was the initial estimate back in June. Instead, it is at $81.5 million which might not be seen as a major dropoff but that $1.5 million does make a difference.
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Some of that has to do with league revenues and whether players opt for the escalator which has been a hot button issue because of escrow. The Leafs will have to hope that a couple of factors provide a slightly bigger increase than the $2 million the league saw this off-season.
Of course, all eyes are on the fact that the U.S. TV deal with the NHL expires at the end of the 2021-22 season. The NHL knows they need to get more than the 10-year deal which paid the league $200 million per season.
Right now, the Sportsnet deal is probably what the NHL is hoping to replicate south of the border which might be a tough sell but as long as there is competition to be the national rights holder in the U.S., the NHL will profit from that. Not only will the league receive new revenues from a new broadcast deal, but the expansion to Seattle will also help in a big way.
When you look at the way the salary cap has gone up in recent years there were two big spikes; it went up $4.7 million before the 2013-14 season and $4.5 million before the 2018-19 season. For the NHL to see the salary cap grow like that again, the new Seattle franchise is going to have to take off like Vegas did a couple of years ago.
Elliotte Friedman wrote for Sportsnet that the salary cap could only see a slight increase heading into next season because of the impending deals that are coming especially with a new CBA.
This is certainly something to keep an eye on as the season goes along and you can only hope the Leafs don’t get the short end of the stick when it comes to the salary cap not having the consistent growth that it should.
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Do you think the Leafs should consider signing Barrie? What do you expect him to get in a new deal? Let us know in the comments below.