Jake Muzzin wants to sign with the Leafs, and the Leafs want to sign the defenceman to an extension. That much we’ve known for some time, but on Thursday on Insider Trading, Daren Dreger reported that the deal might be almost done, but “tagging room” considerations could hold things up until March 1.
Tagging room is the CBA rule that prevents NHL teams from signing players mid-season to multi-year SPCs that they don’t actually have the payroll room in the present or the future to absorb. That future payroll room is calculated in a way that penalizes teams running with a current-year total AAV of all cap hits over the upper limit via LTIR.