Maple Leafs have nearly $20 million committed to four players aged 34 or older

The Toronto Maple Leafs have a cap problem right now, and a lot of it is caused by the fact that four of their aging veterans make up $20-million in salary alone.

This offseason has been a much different look from the Toronto Maple Leafs compared to previous years. Whereas Brad Treliving sat on his hands and barely made any moves, John Chayka has been like the Road Runner; speeding through contract after contract, trade after trade.

They've brought in some great depth players, shored up their goaltending, signed Gavin McKenna and still reportedly have more moves to make (though need to shed some salary in order to do so).

But speaking of salary cap issues, right now the Maple Leafs are in the red by just under $3-million dollars and will need to be cap compliant before the season opens up. They don't have too many bad contracts per se, though there is one thing staring them directly in the face.

Toronto has nearly one-quarter of its salary cap reserved for some pretty old players

Right now, Toronto has four players aged 34 or older who make a serious amount of money, with their total reaching $20-million combined. John Tavares (35) makes $4.39-million, Oliver Ekman-Larsson (34) makes $3.5-million, Chris Tanev (36) makes $4.5-million, and newcomer Sergei Bobrovsky (37) makes $7-million.

That's a total of $19.39-million attached to some older guys, and in the case of Tanev and Tavares - signed until 2030.

Both men are going to be reaching their 40's at that point, and while the cap is going to keep rising, it's going to prevent the team from making moves if they have money locked up elsewhere with nowhere to dump the money.

It's not just the age factor that's an issue, as regression and decline is natural as players get older. While Tavares and Ekman-Larsson have bucked that trend, Tanev has not and has serious injury red flags, and he's still going to be looked at as a top defensive shutdown option coming off an 11-game season.

Tanev and Bobrovsky's contracts are the scariest ones however

Now, there's nothing to say that the players listed above can't just play their butts off and come out successful, but Toronto has to prepare for the worst. Granted, most of these deals were Treliving's doing, so John Chayka is inheriting a tough situation.

But looking at what Tavares has done as he's gotten older, and seeing Ekman-Larsson turn back the clock his two seasons here, it may make those contracts easier to stomach (especially Tavares').

One we really shouldn't though is Tanev's deal. Acquired in a sign-and-trade, he was brought in on a $4.5-million AAV hit over a six-year term. Yes, Brad Treliving gave a 34-year old with injury issues a $27-million deal and gave him trade protection as well. So, right there you're handicapped.

A player who was fantastic in his first year, Tanev only skated in 11 games last year after various injuries and while he's focused on getting healthy and prepped for the season, we can't really rely on the hope he'll return to his 2024-25 form.

Bobrovsky's deal is risky because he too has injury issues though looks to have worked past that. But you're also handing $7-million to a soon-to-be 38-year-old goaltender who is coming off his worst season in a good while.

You can't deny what you're getting with Bobrovsky though as he's elite and one of the best goalies in the world and his three-year hit isn't as terrible as Tanev's considering what you're getting but it's still not pretty.

It's not a bad deal in the grand scheme of things and going after Bobrovsky was a way to convince everyone this team was serious about winning while they could.

But it just adds to a list of aging veterans who cost a lot of money for Toronto, and with money needed to be saved for bigger deals down the line - these contracts could cause some headaches in 2028.

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