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Nobody in the league received more bang for their buck from entry-level players this past season than the Toronto Maple Leafs – or in recent league history, for that matter – but the bill has arrived in the form of a bonus overage cap penalty totalling $5.37 million for 2017-18.

The $5.37 million in bonuses earned by Leafs players is the highest since the Pittsburgh Penguins of 2007-08 ($6.1 million), and therefore the second highest in NHL history. Five Leafs rookies hit performance bonus benchmarks this year: Auston Matthews, William Nylander, Connor Brown, Zach Hyman, and Mitch Marner. For more on their specific bonus achievements, check out this Chris Johnston piece from late in the season.

All $5.37 million directly translates into an overage charge due to the Leafs’ use of Long Term Injured Reserve (LTIR) on the Nathan Horton contract throughout the season. As teams are technically over the cap while using LTIR – they’re simply receiving relief for the dollars above the cap up until the full amount of the injured players’ cap hit – it means the Leafs are now on the hook for that amount in 2017-18. Unused LTIR dollars cannot go towards covering bonuses, as they’re applied retroactively.

The cocktail of LTIR and performance bonuses has produced this kind of result before: In Boston in 2013-14, the bonuses achieved by Jarome Iginla (who was given a bonus-laden deal to fit him under the cap) plus the LTIR relief used on Marc Savard meant that the Bruins were slapped with a $4.75 million overage charge, eventually forcing then-GM Peter Chiarelli to deal defenceman Johnny Boychuk to relieve his cap bind in October of 2014. Chiarelli was fired at the end of the season.

The Leafs, fortunately, are not in a position where they’ll be forced to shed any contracts to make it under the cap ceiling next year. The $5 million penalty hurts, but it means they’ve got around $8.6 million in cap space remaining with a 21-man roster that includes 14 forwards, six defencemen and a goalie. They’ll need a backup netminder, RFA forwards Connor Brown and Zach Hyman are due up for raises and they’ll likely add at least one more piece on the blue line, but they aren’t in dire straits by any means.

That said, it’s important to note that this problem doesn’t just go away after 2017-18. The LTIR + entry-level bonus cocktail will continue to pose problems while Auston Matthews (two more years), Mitch Marner (two more years) and William Nylander (one more year) are on entry-level deals and the team is simultaneously taking advantage of LTIR relief on Horton’s contract. While Stephane Robidas’ contract is now off the books (as of July 1) and Joffrey Lupul has just one year remaining, Horton’s cap hit will remain with the Leafs until 2020.

It’s preferable to a bad contract counting towards the cap in full, but it’s the price the organization continues to pay for the David Clarkson mistake.