Coyotes @ Leafs - Oct. 26th, 7:30pm - TSN4, Fan 590

[Kin]

Well, that and the more sort of general point that they only shed a few of their big money contracts. Bozak, Lupul and Phaneuf alone make up the difference between the cap and the floor.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I wouldn't entirely be surprised if the Leafs led the league in contracts between $2-3mil too. Most of our mid-tier players aren't exactly cheap. We also only have 2 players on ELC contracts.

 

[Tigger]

Yes, I just don't follow what the advantage is of one over the other.

Ok. The most important thing about LTIR is that it doesn't simply take Horton's contract off the books. It just allows the Leafs to exceed the salary cap by a certain amount. That amount is basically calculated by taking the cap hit of the player and subtracting whatever cap space the team has at the time he's put on LTIR.

So let's just say that the Leafs had $2mil in cap space to start the season. If they placed Horton on LTIR right then they would have been able to exceed the salary cap by $3.3mil for the remainder of the season. But they weren't in a position where they needed that cap space so there really wasn't a point in putting him on LTIR then.

Right now though the Leafs total cap hit is higher. With their injuries they technically have 26 players on their roster. They only have $88,333 in cap space.  This is likely the closest they'll ever be to the salary cap this season. So by putting Horton on LTIR they'll be able to exceed the salary cap for the remainder of the season by basically his entire cap hit instead of just a portion of it.

Cool, thanks Carlton.