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Maple Leafs' Three Most Team-Friendly Contracts For 2026-27 NHL Season
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- Maple Leafs' Three Most Team-Friendly Contracts For 2026-27 NHL Season
One of the keys to being a successful team in the NHL is the way the salary cap is allocated throughout the roster.
Typically, teams that have won Stanley Cups in recent memory don't have star players who are handsomely paid. In fact, no team has won the Stanley Cup with a player earning more than $10 million against the salary cap. Instead, the money is spread out to all areas of the lineup, and that's all possible with players taking team-friendly contracts.
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For the Toronto Maple Leafs , here are three of the most team-friendly contracts on the roster going into the 2026-27 NHL season, in no particular order, and not including entry-level contracts .
John Tavares, C
John Tavares by far has the most team-friendly contract on the Maple Leafs.
The 35-year-old center signed a four-year contract at $4.39 million per season in June 2025, which lasts through the 2028-29 campaign. He inked this deal after equalling his second-highest goal total of his NHL career with 38, as well as 36 assists for 74 points in 75 games.
Based on the production he still provides, his value on the open market could've easily been north of $7 million per season.
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In 2024, Steven Stamkos signed a four-year deal worth $8 million per year after scoring 81 points in 79 games. In fairness to him, that's a notch more than what Tavares registered in his contract year, but Stamkos nearly earned double what Tavares got from the Leafs.
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Oliver Ekman-Larsson, D
Oliver Ekman-Larsson earns $3.5 million against the cap and will do so for the next two seasons for the Maple Leafs.
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The veteran defenseman is well past the prime of his career as he enters season No. 17. However, the 35-year-old is coming off one of the best campaigns he's had in quite some time.
Ekman-Larsson scored eight goals and 39 points this past year, which is the highest point total he's registered since 2018-19. Other defensemen who scored at a similar rate to Ekman-Larsson in 2025-26 include Shea Theodore, who earns $7.425 million per year, and Dougie Hamilton, who nets $9 million against the cap.
For what Ekman-Larsson earns on his deal, that's a pretty team-friendly contract. Not to mention, he was excellent for Sweden as he captained his nation at the 2026 IIHF World Championship .
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Chris Tanev, D
Chris Tanev's contract is certainly a longer deal considering his age. The 36-year-old makes $4.5 million against the cap for the next four seasons. Though that contract will take him to the age of 40 when it expires, it's the cap hit that is team-friendly, especially as the NHL salary cap increases.
The Maple Leafs didn't get to see much of Tanev this past year as he dealt with multiple injuries and only featured in 11 regular-season games . Though it would be ideal to have Tanev on the ice, a team can always bury a player's salary from the payroll if they suffer from a lengthy injury. So there isn't a huge loss financially when Tanev can't play, just the loss of a quality player on the Leafs' back end.
But when he is healthy, he's one of the top defensive defensemen in the NHL, and certainly one of the best shot blockers of this generation. Since entering the league in 2010-11, Tanev is a top-10 shot-blocker, with a total of 1,856.
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He also makes a great shutdown pairing with Jake McCabe, who also isn't locked into a terrible contract either, costing $4.51 against the cap for the next four years.
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