Toronto Maple Leafs Officially Facing Salary Cap Penalty in 2025-26 Season

The NHL is finally seeing the salary cap rise and that's fantastic news for all 32 teams, despite some being more averse to spending to the limit than others.

For teams like the Toronto Maple Leafs, every penny matters, and that includes the utilization of LTIR and any other cap loophole that's available within the CBA.

Last year, the NHL had 22 teams exceeding the cap while utilizing the LTIR at some point during the season. This year was no different, with 20 teams utilizing the loophole, including the Leafs.

Unfortunately, the Maple Leafs were one of 11 teams that were penalized for going over the salary cap due to their utilization of LTIR at the end of the season, which will incur a bonus overage carryover. The fortunate side of this event is that it's a measly sum of $625,230.

While every dollar counts, it's a small sacrifice needed to be made during the season and doesn't come anywhere near the $2.153 million for the St. Louis Blues or the $1.727 million of the Montreal Canadiens.

Nevertheless, the bonus overage of $625,320 came to pass after they included a bonus in Max Pacioretty's contract for exceeding a certain amount of games played. As PuckPedia notes, the Leafs rarely include bonuses like this in any of their contracts but made a special case for the veteran.

The NHL's salary cap rose $4.5 million this year and is expected to jump another $7.5 million in the summer. Even beyond that record-setting jump, it is going to continue to rise exponentially to $104 million in 2026-27 and $113.5 million in 2027-28, which represents a jump of $25.5 million in just 3 years.

The Maple Leafs will have to make due with a bonus overage of just over $600K, but in the grand scheme of things, they should be more than okay with the $7.5 million dollar jump as they look to extend key players like Mitch Marner, Matthew Knies, and John Tavares.