The cap going flat is a horseshit excuse. It was the same for everybody and plenty of other teams that were maxed out on cap space still found ways to make deals happen. The Leafs didn’t. They just kept throwing futures away for old, broken players and wondering why it never worked. The Leafs drafting gave them dogshit for depth up the pipeline. Even if the cap went up, Tavares still would have been an overpayment and total ass in the playoffs.
The Leafs had too many of the same type of players and too much money invested in them. The cap going up wouldn’t have changed that.
the timing of it all was just a disaster for the Leafs, just as they had to pay Mitch, Willie and AM the cap died. Yes other teams function in the same cap, but they didnt have 3 young stars all getting big raises at the same time.
extra cap space would allow them to keep Hyman. the 2021-2023 teams were good, having Hyman would help and whoever else they could add.
it would compound because they had to spend draft capital to try and fill in the need for those players instead.
its amazing how Fast Tre tanked the team. he sucks