John Chayka has just made a gamble involving Auston Matthews

Almost all expire the same summer Auston Matthews can leave.

The Toronto Maple Leafs general manager spent free agency adding Colton Sissons, Jack Roslovic, Darren Raddysh and goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, most on player-friendly rates and modest term.

One popular breakdown counts eleven current players reaching free agency in 2028, seven of them inked by Chayka this summer.

On paper the timing looks like flexibility. Underneath, it is a bill coming due in one summer.

The NHL and NHL Players' Association set the ceiling at 104 million dollars for 2026-27 and 113.5 million for 2027-28, up from 95.5 million this season.

That is close to a 19 percent climb in three years, per the league's own announcement and reporting from ESPN.

Deals that look like bargains today were signed against a smaller cap. When they expire in 2028, agents will point to a number that has ballooned, and Toronto re-prices its depth all at once.

Cheap entry-level help masks it further. First overall pick Gavin McKenna arrives on a rookie deal, subsidizing the flexibility Chayka is banking, right up until that contract needs replacing too.

Matthews carries a 13.25 million dollar hit and a full no-movement clause, and becomes an unrestricted free agent in July 2028. His decision lands in the exact offseason Chayka must also re-sign much of the supporting cast he just assembled.

The Vancouver comparison cuts both ways. Avoiding long, unwanted contracts is smart, but stacking a roster's expiry into one summer during the steepest cap rise in league history is its own trap.

Keep everyone and the cheap depth stops being cheap. Let them walk and Chayka rebuilds the same bottom six he paid to fix.

The plan may be in plain sight, but so is the squeeze waiting in 2028.

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