The Athletic ranks Toronto Maple Leafs 15th in contract efficiency

This summer has seen somewhat of a reshuffling of the books for the Toronto Maple Leafs. With Mitch Marner walking out the door, John Tavares signing a team-friendly deal, and Matthew Knies earning his first standard contract, things look a little different on the Maple Leafs’ PuckPedia headed into the fall. Not to mention the rising salary cap providing new opportunities to bring in a collection of depth adds.

As we enter the late off-season, The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn took the opportunity Wednesday to do his annual NHL contract efficiency rankings. This year, the Toronto Maple Leafs come in right in the middle at 15th in the league, with a ‘B’ ranking.

In his assessment, Luszczyszyn argues that Toronto find themselves lacking any terrible deals, but also any great ones:

On average, Toronto generally gets a good deal and the Maple Leafs also rarely make bad deals. David Kampf is the current exception to that, but aside from him the team doesn’t have many true problem contracts. Some players are paid more than you’d prefer, yes, but the Leafs have limited disaster. But there’s a big difference between the Leafs and the NHL’s contending class and that’s the lack of many great deals. The Panthers, Lightning and Hurricanes all sit in the league’s top five for contract efficiency while the Leafs sit closer to the middle. For a team with championship aspirations, that disparity is not ideal. –Matt Larkin

Luszczyszyn does highlight Toronto’s situation in between the pipes as likely the best in the league, with Anthony Stolarz and Joseph Woll emerging as one of the best tandems in the NHL, totaling just over $6 million for the pair. He also notes Tavares and Knies’ extensions as two of the best signed this summer.

But from his vantage point, Auston Matthews’ dip in production due to injury and William Nylander’s contract value compared to other franchise wingers across the league sink the overall efficiency of this team. He also points to the team’s aging blue line as a specific area of concern:

Toronto’s biggest issue is age, particularly on defense. On the surface, deals for Jake McCabe, Chris Tanev, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Brandon Carlo and even Morgan Rielly look more than fair for the upcoming season and maybe even the year after. But it’s beyond where the value looks sketchier given the age of everyone involved. That leaves Toronto in a precarious position where the Leafs are deep in win-now mode, but likely don’t have the roster to pull it off.

Despite a number of positives for this Maple Leafs squad, Luszczyszyn comes in pretty grim in his assessment of the roster overall considering what Toronto is working to accomplish this season.

At the end of the day though, these are just projections. If Matthews has the bounce back year many expect from him, the goaltending remains solid, and the blue line steps up to the task this year, this squad has the potential to do big things.