The biggest question surrounding the Toronto Maple Leafs since signing John Tavares to a seven-year, $77 million deal is whether the team will be able to afford to keep their core pieces under the salary cap.

Right winger William Nylander is a restricted free agent this summer, while Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner are both entering the final year of their entry-level contracts. The Maple Leafs still have $16 million in cap space this season, per CapFriendly, but have already committed $47.9 million in salary for the 2019-20 season.

Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas said Wednesday the team is confident they will be able to make the necessary moves to keep their top young players, and said they owe it to Tavares to do so.

“There won’t be much juggling because, before we even engaged in the process with John, we didn’t think it’d be fair to John to have him to come in and then suddenly have to lose those players that you’re referring to,” Dubas told OverDrive on TSN Radio 1050 Toronto.

“We went through a very stringent process internally where we went over and over it… to ensure that regardless of different variables that may interject themselves into this process as it goes along that we’re going to be able to keep that core of our team together while also remaining fairly flexible and be able to add players too.

“I don’t think there will be any juggling and that’s part of what we felt we had to convey (to Tavares’ camp), is that our cap situation is very favourable to us to keep this thing rolling ahead, while also being able to adapt to different needs that we may find as we get on down the path in each subsequent season and off-season.

“We feel very good about that, we’re going to be very patient with the RFAs. Obviously William’s contract is up now and we’ll begin working with (his agent) Lewis Gross in the coming weeks to make sure he’s set. We’ll tackle the others that are eligible for extensions, but it’s my own decision that we’ve got to be patient with them and make sure the players know what they’re getting into as well and what our vision is for the team so that they feel a part of that as they’re signing up for the long-term with us.”

Dubas said the team will likely open extension negotiations with Matthews and Marner prior to the season, but feels no rush to have them signed by opening night.

The Maple Leafs made their first cap space clearing move earlier this week when they traded Matt Martin to the New York Islanders for goaltending prospect Eamon McAdam.