Yesterday the NHL released numbers that are based on the accounting for the season that has not yet ended, but this is when they finalize salary values that affect a host of other things. The 2025-2026 Average League Salary is $3,973,228 which PuckPedia tells me is a 4.08% increase over the prior year.

Under the new LTIR rules introduced this season, that figure is the in-season cap on LTIR for any individual player.

The amount that limits teams who wish to elect arbitration on eligible RFAs is now $2,484,079, so players currently paid that much (in salary) are the only ones eligible for this type of arbitration. They cannot be paid less than 85% of that salary amount from an award. Matias Maccelli is the only Leafs player over this amount, and it is extremely unlikely the team would elect arbitration.

The compensation tiers for offer sheets are also now known.

The picks must be all in 2027 (unless multiples are required and then they must include the 2027) and must be the team's own picks. The only offer sheet the Leafs could enter into is the fifth level down that requires the second-round pick or the lower level that requires no picks. In theory, they could reacquire some of the traded picks, like the third-round pick the Mammoth have, but that is unlikely.

And finally, if a player is awarded more than $4,950,080 in arbitration, the team can walk away from the award, and the player becomes UFA. (If it's a two-year award, they can only walk away from year two.)

In a story that is utterly fascinating the Czechs are having some controversial conversations over how to pronounce names in Swedish.

Záruba: Češi nejsou na Peršony a Laršony připraveni! Vrátíme se ke staré variantě | Hokej.cz - web českého hokeje
(FRIBOURG, od našeho zpravodaje) „Výslovnost švédských příjmení, kde se k sobě pojí hlásky „R” a „S” se skutečně změkčuje,“ argumentuje komentátor Robert Záruba v diskusi o největším jazykovém tématu v Česku…
Hokej.czDominik Dubovči
Few people have studied linguistics or even Swedish. Nevertheless, many Czech fans and viewers of Czech Television have an opinion on Zárub's pronunciation of Nordic surnames.
However, the head of Czech Television's hockey team insists that his "La(r)šon" or "Pe(r)šon" honors the version currently in public use in Sweden. It's just that it's a little more complicated.
However, according to Záruby, part of the Czech public is not ready for the names to be changed in line with the original. "We don't want to distract attention from hockey. We will return to the original version, which has almost nothing to do with reality, but you and I are used to it," he surprised. 
"After a quick consultation with the Institute of the Czech Language, such an option is possible... And fortunately, the Swedes are tolerant. We'll see if the situation develops over time. I wish everyone a nice experience at the World Cup," Záruba wished. 

Vancouver has fired all their bench coaches:

CANUCKS ANNOUNCE COACHING CHANGES | Vancouver Canucks
…ADAM FOOTE, SCOTT YOUNG, KEVIN DEAN & BRETT MCLEAN RELIEVED OF THEIR DUTIES
Vancouver Canucks logoCanucks Communications

The Devils got in on it.

The Vegas soap opera has another chapter after they tried to appeal their forfeited pick and fine and were denied:

There is a game every night from now until one of the Conference Finals ends. So anyone wanting to politely drop news is waiting for a couple of weeks.

New film tracks McKenna’s journey to become projected No. 1 pick in NHL Draft | NHL.com
‘The McKenna Project’ premiers on TNT after Game 1 of Eastern Final
NHL logoAdam Kimelman

Okay, so other than that Chris Johnston said some things on a podcast that I don't care about. I'll tell you why: all of it was obvious. It's also the sort of thing that makes people shout out how this is not a serious team based on something some guy said, and I've run out of patience.

The gist: Other teams are saying that the Leafs are willing to discuss any player except Auston Matthews. And yes, he does caveat that with some of the players with various forms of trade protection. He also said that he would be stunned if Max Domi is moved, he bases this on his relationships with Mats Sundin and John "already traded him once" Chayka as well as his trade protection.

I have been deliberately not thinking about roster construction. I don't care about speculative trades – it's all an exercise in who people want punished. And they're never good speculation because that guy you hate will always return some 25 year old star in the making, and come on.

I don't care about free agency. It's May. There over a month before this is even on the radar and by then a good portion of the current pending UFA players will be re-signed.

But the main reason I don't care is because until Auston Matthews choses his path for the near term and the medium term, none of these conversations can be had in any sensible way without a set of nested if statements five deep. Or maybe a flow chart in three dimensions. A case statement can't even help. It's the multiverse of future options and choices. And it's all just pointless until the team has a firm direction.

Yes it is blindingly obvious that the Leafs will discuss just about any potential trade. This does not mean they want to trade every player or even any player. Nothing here is different to Brad Treliving calling every GM to talk about everything. They have extremely difficult problems to solve. But first, they have to know what Matthews is thinking.

There is one amusing aspect to this however, remember like a week ago when the OMG, scandal!!! was that no one would ever deal with Chayka and it was doom and despair and agony on me, and they'd never make a trade and the team would just wither away? Seems weird CJ's information is coming from other teams. Guess they are talking to the Leafs after all.

Okay, there's two funny things. CJ is again doing the thing where he guesses that the Leafs will act like the median NHL team and not trade a player their GM knows.

Right now, it's guessing all the way down.

Have a great day.

Let's test Bluesky image posts:

Micah McCurdy (@hockeyviz.com)
Not a lot to love about Adam Foote’s first (only?) season in the league. Score behaviour pretty typical - best hockey when down one, open it up down two, low-event when up by one.
Bluesky SocialMicah McCurdy
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