No team’s salary cap situation comes under more intense scrutiny each year than the Toronto Maple Leafs given the financial commitments they have made to core players Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander and John Tavares.

They are a team that spends to the limit every season and is desperate to bring a Stanley Cup to Toronto for the first time since the first six days.

While Matthew and Nylander are already locked into long-term contracts, they face a big offseason full of decisions as Marner and Tavares are both set to become unrestricted free agents after this season.

It remains to be seen what direction the Maple Leafs want to take them, and there’s a good chance that if they fail in the playoffs again, they’ll finally use this as a chance to realign their core. After all, how much longer can you lose in the first round before you start to question the biggest common denominator?

But if the Maple Leafs have postseason success and want to keep one or both, or if they want to go in a different direction and sign other star players (and there might be options), every extra dollar put into the salary cap will be important.

Toronto has already committed $64.6 million to 16 players for next season, and that’s before looking at possible deals for Marner and Tavares or restricted free agents like Matthew Knies, who’s also earning a nice raise, or with possible roster upgrades from outside the organization they will almost certainly need.

It’s very likely that Toronto will spend up to the cap. The higher the cap, the better the Maple Leafs’ situation will be.