The current pandemic which has forced the NHL season to pause has really created a salary cap bump in the road. Next year the cap was supposed to take a nice jump however instead it will likely be a flat cap staying the same as this year. Experts now believe that because of the pandemic it'll trickle down on the salary cap for the next couple of years which could definitely hurt the Toronto Maple Leafs.It will change the upcoming free agent market and that of 2021 as well, possibly even trickling down to 2022. Leafs' defenseman Morgan Rielly will be UFA during the 2022 offseason and the Leafs already have $55million invested in seven players for 2022-23, so the current salary cap troubles might help them keep Rielly around. Because we're not expected to see the regular yearly inflation on salaries over the next offseason or two, the Leafs might be able to keep Rielly around on one of the recent big ticket deals that were signed for a defenseman. Luke Fox of Sportsnet believes the Leafs should be able to lock up Rielly to a similar deal to what Oliver Ekman-Larsson signed, eight years at a total of $66million. Fox also points out that whatever soon to be UFA Torey Krug signs for this offseason could be a good indiction as he's expected to earn around or just under Ekman-Larsson's $8.25million AAV. Would you like to see the Leafs sign Rielly to a contract like this?
