Salary cap increase gives Maple Leafs plenty of room to re-sign Mitch Marner

Timing is everything, and when it comes to Mitch Marner and the Toronto Maple Leafs, it couldn’t be better.

The NHL and NHLPA have released their salary cap estimates for the next three seasons. The cap will jump to $95.5 million in 2025-26, $104 million in 2026-27, and a whopping $113.5 million in 2027-28. Needless to say, the added cap space will make it much easier for the Maple Leafs to re-sign Mitch Marner and several other pending free agents.

As it stands now, Marner is an unrestricted free agent on July 1. He’s signed for $10.9 million this season, and considering he’s having another stellar season, with 68 points in 51 games to this point, the Maple Leafs star winger is going to be looking for a raise, as he’ll be in line to cash in, in a major way this offseason.

According to PuckPedia, Leafs’ GM Brad Treliving will have $29.6 million to work with this upcoming offseason, and in two summers, an astonishing $46.4 million in cap space. Marner is the ninth-highest-paid player in the league this season, and with William Nylander signed for $11.5 million AAV, and Auston Matthews at $13.2 million AAV, it’s not out of the question that Marner could be looking for an eight-year extension, with an AAV dead smack in the middle of his two teammates.

Treliving can make it work, and then some. He’s done a great job locking in the Leafs’ goaltending duo of Joseph Woll and Anthony Stolarz at a very reasonable price, meanwhile, Toronto has seven defencemen signed through the 2026-27 season. Marner will take a massive chunk of the team’s projected $26 million next season, but there should be plenty of cash to go around, and, it’s not out of the question that Treliving makes a trade to create more financial flexibility moving forward. David Kampf, Ryan Reaves, Calle Jarnkrok and Max Domi are all potential ‘cap causalities’ this summer.

Tavares and Knies’ extensions make up Treliving’s to-do list

While Marner’s potential mega-extension won’t be touched by any Maple Leaf this summer, Treliving also has a couple of other big contracts on his to-do list, including extending John Tavares and Matthew Knies.

Tavares enters Saturday’s action with 20 goals, and 42 points in 44 games, silencing any doubt that the 34-year-old veteran is slowing down. The Oakville, ON native won’t be receiving another $11 million AAV contract on his next deal, but given what we’ve seen out of the likes of Evgeni Malkin in Pittsburgh, and previously Joe Pavelski in Dallas, perhaps Tavares and the Leafs land on a three-year deal at around $5.5 million – $6 million AAV. There’s no doubt Tavares wants to retire a Leaf, and the sense is Treliving is open to making it happen.

Knies on the other hand, is a pending restricted free agent and could look for a long-term deal over a bridge contract. At this point, the feeling has been mutual to get a deal done, there just hasn’t been much said about how close the two sides are to making it happen, or if this order of business will be completed in the offseason. Regardless, with the cap jumping to $95.5 in 2025-26, and then up another, close to $10 million the season after, long gone are the days of listening to how the Maple Leafs have too much money tied up into their forwards.

The financial structure of the NHL is changing in a major way, and it couldn’t have come at a better time for Treliving to keep the core of this Maple Leafs’ team together moving forward. Unless, of course, after the Stanley Cup Playoffs this spring, he doesn’t want to.