Did John Chayka Get Too Good Much of a Good Thing?

There’s a funny thing happening with the Toronto Maple Leafs right now. We’ve spent a lot of the summer talking about how new GM John Chayka has finally given this team some depth. There are more forwards who can play, more competition for jobs and fewer spots that should simply be handed to somebody because there isn’t anybody else.

That’s supposed to be a good thing. Except there’s a problem. Toronto may have created more competition than it can actually afford.

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Lorentz, Domi, and Joshua Are Somewhere in the Middle

Steven Lorentz, Max Domi and Dakota Joshua are three of the players caught in the middle of it. And the bigger issue isn’t necessarily whether all three deserve to play. It’s whether the Maple Leafs can actually fit all three into the roster under the salary cap. That’s a very different question.

The Maple Leafs are currently about $2.75 million over the cap, which means something has to give. There are only so many ways around that problem. Domi going on LTIR could provide some temporary relief, assuming his health situation allows for it. Trading Joshua would clear his entire contract. Toronto could also try to operate with a 20-man roster, although that’s not exactly an ideal solution over an 82-game season.

The Salary Cap May Make the Decision for Them

And then there’s the Marlies. Except that doesn’t really solve the problem either. Toronto doesn’t have a bunch of waiver-exempt players it can simply send down to create space. Easton Cowan and Gavin McKenna are the obvious exceptions, but you don’t bring a player like McKenna into the organization and then start looking for ways to hide him in the minors just because the cap doesn’t work.

That’s where this gets difficult. The roster isn’t simply going to be decided by who plays the best at training camp. It may be decided by who fits the math.

The Other Side of Building Depth in the Strange World of the Salary Cap

I actually think this is one of the more interesting consequences of Chayka’s summer. He has done what fans have been asking for. He has created competition. But competition isn’t free.

If Domi, Lorentz and Joshua all come into camp looking good, Hiller can’t simply say, “Great, we’ll keep all three.” Somebody has to go somewhere. And that doesn’t necessarily mean somebody has played badly. It might mean somebody’s contract doesn’t fit. It might mean a player can be moved. And it might mean the Maple Leafs have to make a difficult decision before the season even starts.

You can build a deeper team and still discover that your biggest problem is having too many useful players. For Toronto, that’s not necessarily a bad problem to have. But it is a problem.

And somewhere between training camp, the injury list and the trade market, John Chayka is going to have to find the answer.

Related: Why Couldn’t the Maple Leafs Ever Figure Out Matias Maccelli?