It’s that time again, too soon again, to calculate how much cap space the Leafs have in the offseason and what they’ll have once next season starts. Those two numbers are not the same for two reasons. One: there is a cushion of 10% on the salary cap that teams are allowed to exceed in the offseason. Two: the offseason calculation is not the same as the in-season version.
Prior to the new CBA Memo of Understanding, there was a very complex system that governed contract signings for the following year prior to July 1. That old method has been turfed, likely because no one outside the NHL offices could seem to figure it out, and replaced with a similar method used for the offseason.