Connor Brown confident contract will be signed despite Leafs' cap issues

Connor Brown is in a holding pattern.

The Toronto Maple Leafs forward remains an unsigned restricted free agent, but doesn't appear to be sweating the situation, he told the Toronto Sun's Lance Hornby at the team's development camp Tuesday.

The main issue is Toronto's 2017-18 salary-cap hit currently projects at $78,929,167, which would exceed the ceiling by $3,929,167, according to Cap Friendly.

Teams can exceed the cap ceiling by 10 percent during the offseason (up to $82.5 million), but all things considered, the Leafs have only $421,602 plus the cost of Brown's qualifying offer ($715,000) to work with.

In short, if Brown agrees to a deal worth $1,136,602 per year, all would be resolved. Considering he scored 20 goals as a rookie last season, that's unlikely to happen.

If not, Brown will have to wait and see if general manager Lou Lamoriello can pull off a summer trade to free up cap space, or wait until the seasons begins when Toronto can bury players in the minors and on injured reserve.

In the meantime, teams could swoop in with an offer sheet, leaving the Leafs vulnerable to losing Brown if he chose to sign.

"If the offer sheet was for an amount greater than $1.15 million, then they would not have the offseason cap space to match," Cap Friendly's Dominik Zier confirmed to Kevin McGran of the Toronto Star on Monday.

Brown was one of six rookies to score at least 20 goals last season.