Toronto Maple Leafs Hit with Substantial Salary Cap Penalty That Goes Into Effect Next Season

When it comes to the NHL and its salary cap rules, there is no doubt that the league has been known to enforce them quite harshly, which is no surprise.

At the end of the day, you don't want to see teams bending the rules and trying to do things that are detrimental to the game.

When teams go over the salary cap, even with players on LTIR, there is a penalty that needs to be made. Typically, this penalty is paid in the following season.

According to Puck Pedia, the Toronto Maple Leafs are one of the teams that have been penalized for their use of the salary cap and LTIR this season.

If you remember, Max Pacioretty had to be placed on LTIR due to his continuous injury woes. This has left the Leafs with a fine of $625,230.

As you can see from the graph below, teams like the St. Louis Blues and the Montreal Canadiens are being forced to pay much larger fines right about now.

With that being said, the salary cap is set to take a major leap in 2025-26 which is good news for the Maple Leafs and pretty well every single other team in the league.

The Leafs are going into free agency looking to retain players like Mitch Marner, John Tavares, and Matthew Knies. With the cap going up, the Leafs should pull it off.

Only time will tell whether or not the Leafs are going to continue to comply with the NHL rules or if they will get forced to pull an LTIR maneuver again.

Whatever the case may be, the playoffs are about to begin and that is what fans are the most excited about right now.