An Interesting Tidbit About the Maple Leafs Roster That You Probably Didn't Know

Trades, player movement, and hitting the open market for free agency are more present in today's game than they ever were in other eras. The stagnant cap could be to blame for that, considering most teams were operating under the guise that the cap was projected to rise every season until COVID-19 ravaged the league.

Teams had to then work with a cap of 81.5 million dollars for several years before it slowly started to increase. Now the cap sits at $88 million and with the low cap in the rearview mirror, teams are spending frivolously again, making trades more frequent.

The Maple Leafs have been a contender since Auston Matthews donned the Blue and White, and over his 8-year career, he has seen a lot of new teammates come in and a lot of fellow teammates head out through trade or free agency. However, as Luke Fox from Sportsnet points out, that trend might be dying out.

The Maple Leafs haven't traded a player off their roster since October 8th of 2023 when they moved Sam Lafferty to Vancouver for a 5th round draft pick to alleviate cap space.

The Leafs have made a substantial amount of moves ahead of the trade deadline and into free agency but most of them required draft picks as compensation. Additionally, there have been rumours about players like Calle Jarnkrok, David Kampf, or Timothy Liljegren being on the move so the trend could be in jeopardy. However, as of today, they are a full year out from subtracting from their NHL-roster.