A conversation I once had with a distant family member about the Toronto Maple Leafs while travelling to the UK in May 2016 always sticks out whenever I think about the team's place in the NHL hierarchy.

"So if the Leafs are in one of the biggest cities, they must have plenty of fans, and always be one of the best teams, right?"

Well, that's not exactly how it works, though it'd make sense why someone could think that way, given how such correlations often work in many global soccer leagues.

At the time of my visit, the Leafs were a few weeks removed from winning the Auston Matthews draft lottery and seemed set up to be at least much more competitive than the 30th-place finish they'd had in 2015-16.

But nearly a decade since that chat, it seems like there might be an advantage coming to high-revenue teams such as Toronto, which is the most valuable franchise in the league, per Sportico.

In discussing the blockbuster trade that sent Mikko Rantanen from the Colorado Avalanche to the Carolina Hurricanes, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman suggested there will be tiers coming around the NHL for how much teams are willing to spend on their players, based on a predicted rising salary cap.

With Rantanen currently on an expiring contract worth $9.25 million per season, it seems Colorado may not have been willing to pay for an expected major raise, which could become more common league-wide.

"I think there is going to be one of the more interesting fundamental conversations around the league in the next little while. In two years, the cap is probably going to be over $100 million and there are teams that are not comfortable with that," Friedman said during Saturday Headlines on Hockey Night in Canada over the weekend, a thought he regurgitated on Monday morning's 32 Thoughts podcast.

"I think what we saw was a message from Colorado that there are going to be some teams, as this cap rises to the $100 million or more range, they're not going to be comfortable with going there."

The cap is currently at $88 million for the 2024-25 season.

Given that even teams that have recently won the Stanley Cup like Colorado might have an internal spending cap, this should be good news for a team like Toronto. Any moves that benefit the NHL's top-earning teams should pretty much always be a positive for the Leafs, as they aren't exactly likely to stop selling out Scotiabank Arena anytime soon.

The Leafs can't offer any more than any other team in free agency and may still have to compete with better American taxes in certain states, in addition to strong media pressure and all the other hoopla that comes with playing in a hockey-crazed market.

But a rising salary cap can only do good for Toronto from a competitive standpoint and should help them be able to sign and retain star players, particularly if some other teams are taking themselves out of the market due to internal budgeting choices.