<p>Salary retention is an increasingly important aspect of the NHL Trade Deadline, and we&#8217;re here to guide you through it. If you don&#8217;t need this primer, that&#8217;s awesome, but we&#8217;re going to go through it together, especially as the <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/combinations">Toronto Maple Leafs</a> will likely need a willing partner to retain some salary in order to land a meaningful upgrade.</p>
<p>We&#8217;ve seen this happen before at past deadlines. <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/is-there-another-jake-mccabe-scenario-toronto-maple-leafs-2025-nhl-trade-deadline">Jake McCabe is a prime example</a>: Toronto acquired McCabe, Sam Lafferty and two conditional picks at the <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/what-toronto-maple-leafs-learn-2023-nhl-trade-deadline">2023 trade deadline</a>, from the Chicago Blackhawks, in exchange for a 2025 first-round pick, a 2026 second-round pick, Joey Anderson and Pavel Gogolev. As part of the trade, Chicago retained 50 percent of McCabe&#8217;s $4 million cap hit, meaning that he only cost the Maple Leafs $2 million per season, before Toronto signed McCabe to a new, <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/maple-leafs-jake-mccabe-5-year-extension">five-year extension worth $4.51 million annually</a> in October, which kicks in for the 2025-26 season.</p>
<p>This is the most clear-cut example involving the Maple Leafs, but we&#8217;ll go through a few other items as well:</p>
<p>The maximum allowable salary one team can retain on a given trade is 50 percent, and one contract can have a maximum of two teams retaining salary on it. The clear example here is when the Leafs acquired Ryan O&#8217;Reilly in 2023, where the St. Louis Blues retained 50 percent of O&#8217;Reilly&#8217;s salary, while the Minnesota Wild retained 25 percent, in order to facilitate the deal. This is an example where two teams can combine to retain 75 percent of a player&#8217;s salary, the maximum limit.</p>
<p>Does that mean contending teams can fully take advantage of tanking teams? Well, to a degree: any NHL team can only carry three retained salaries at any given time, and the total amount cannot exceed 15 percent of the salary cap. There are certain teams targeted in trades, with different goals and different timelines for contention, but salary retention cannot be fully manipulated.</p>
<p>At the time of this filing, the Maple Leafs have been completely inactive when seeking out a trade partner, and they will need find a team that has an available salary retention spot, and a willingness to accommodate a contender. This is your guide to a relative mundane provision from the 2013 CBA, and we hope it&#8217;s helpful during Friday&#8217;s frenzy.</p>
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<p>Get ready, hockey fans! The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@daily_faceoff">Daily Faceoff Deadline</a> is happening on March 7th from 11 AM to 4 PM Eastern, and you won’t want to miss it. We’ll be LIVE, breaking down every trade and big move as it happens, with instant reactions and expert analysis from the Daily Faceoff crew. Plus, we&#8217;ve got special guests lined up throughout the show, offering exclusive insights from some of the biggest names in the game. From blockbuster trades to surprise moves, we’re covering it all. Tune in to the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@daily_faceoff">Daily Faceoff YouTube channel</a> and follow Daily Faceoff socials on March 7th to catch all the action!</p>
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Salary retention is an increasingly important aspect of the NHL Trade Deadline, and we're here to guide you through it. If you don't need this primer, that's awesome, but we're going to go through it together, especially as the <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/combinations">Toronto Maple Leafs</a> will likely need a willing partner to retain some salary in order to land a meaningful upgrade.

We've seen this happen before at past deadlines. <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/is-there-another-jake-mccabe-scenario-toronto-maple-leafs-2025-nhl-trade-deadline">Jake McCabe is a prime example</a>: Toronto acquired McCabe, Sam Lafferty and two conditional picks at the <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/what-toronto-maple-leafs-learn-2023-nhl-trade-deadline">2023 trade deadline</a>, from the Chicago Blackhawks, in exchange for a 2025 first-round pick, a 2026 second-round pick, Joey Anderson and Pavel Gogolev. As part of the trade, Chicago retained 50 percent of McCabe's $4 million cap hit, meaning that he only cost the Maple Leafs $2 million per season, before Toronto signed McCabe to a new, <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/maple-leafs-jake-mccabe-5-year-extension">five-year extension worth $4.51 million annually</a> in October, which kicks in for the 2025-26 season.

This is the most clear-cut example involving the Maple Leafs, but we'll go through a few other items as well:

The maximum allowable salary one team can retain on a given trade is 50 percent, and one contract can have a maximum of two teams retaining salary on it. The clear example here is when the Leafs acquired Ryan O'Reilly in 2023, where the St. Louis Blues retained 50 percent of O'Reilly's salary, while the Minnesota Wild retained 25 percent, in order to facilitate the deal. This is an example where two teams can combine to retain 75 percent of a player's salary, the maximum limit.

Does that mean contending teams can fully take advantage of tanking teams? Well, to a degree: any NHL team can only carry three retained salaries at any given time, and the total amount cannot exceed 15 percent of the salary cap. There are certain teams targeted in trades, with different goals and different timelines for contention, but salary retention cannot be fully manipulated.

At the time of this filing, the Maple Leafs have been completely inactive when seeking out a trade partner, and they will need find a team that has an available salary retention spot, and a willingness to accommodate a contender. This is your guide to a relative mundane provision from the 2013 CBA, and we hope it's helpful during Friday's frenzy.
<div>

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/@daily_faceoff"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-139755" src="https://publish.canucksarmy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2099/08/TradeDeadline-2025_programmatic_Article-727x404-2.png" alt="" width="728" height="405" /></a>

Get ready, hockey fans! The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@daily_faceoff">Daily Faceoff Deadline</a> is happening on March 7th from 11 AM to 4 PM Eastern, and you won’t want to miss it. We’ll be LIVE, breaking down every trade and big move as it happens, with instant reactions and expert analysis from the Daily Faceoff crew. Plus, we've got special guests lined up throughout the show, offering exclusive insights from some of the biggest names in the game. From blockbuster trades to surprise moves, we’re covering it all. Tune in to the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@daily_faceoff">Daily Faceoff YouTube channel</a> and follow Daily Faceoff socials on March 7th to catch all the action!

</div>

Everything you need to know about salary retention

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