An Update on the Updated Cap

I’m getting lots of hits and searches for info on the NHL salary cap and the Leafs’ cap situation so I thought I’d put in a completely new update with the latest info and totals.

The cap is informally being reported as $50.3 million for the 2007-2008 season.

By my math, the Leafs have committed approximately $45.5 million in salaries (that’s for 12 of 14 forwards; 8 D-men, 2 goalies and Belfour’s buy-out - NHL Numbers is hands down THE best site for this data).

As for how much cap room that leaves for MLSE a few things have to be taken into consideration:

1. Teams can execeed the cap by 10% of the cap total from July 1 to the last day of training camp – see article 50.5 c ii B of the CBA:

in order to ensure that Clubs may have sufficient time and flexibility to plan their rosters during the off-season, the Upper Limit shall be temporarily raised by ten (10) percent to permit Clubs additional flexibility with their Averaged Club Salaries during the period from July 1 until and including the last day of Training Camp.

With a $50.3 million upper limit, the Leafs could carry $55M in salary until the last day of training camp. By the end of camp, the Leafs need to be back under the $50.3M cap.

2. Toskala’s contract extension should not affect the Leafs cap for this season. My reading of article 50.5 (f) 1 of the CBA leads me to believe the bump in Toskala’s salary will not count against the Leafs cap hit for the 2007-2008 season:

An "extension" of an SPC, as such term is used in this Agreement, shall mean a new SPC entered into between a Club and a Player, which SPC is to be effective immediately upon the expiration of the Club and Player's existing SPC.

As Toskala’s existing Standard Player Contract (SPC) doesn’t expire until the conclusion of the 2007-2008 season – his increased salary will not count against the Leafs’ cap until the 2008-2009 season.

So, in a nutshell:
Cap: $50.3M
Leafs salaries to date: $45.5M
Less flex salaries for short-term injuries/call-ups: $1.5M

Sub-Total cap space available: $3.3M
10% flex room: $5.03M

TOTAL cap space available until last day of training camp: $8.33M