Quoting: Flyers2000
This year's stats don't matter because I'm talking 3-4 years down the road. It's no secret that the Leafs will be tight against the cap real soon. I'm not like other people who believe they'll lose Marner or Nylander, but the very well could lose a guy like Kadri. Gardiner is probably gone. They'll lose a lot of their depth. They already did this year actually. And we've seen in the playoffs how important depth is
It pains me to say this as a Flyers fans but I see the Leafs as a worse version of this year's Penguins. Contenders? Sure. But they're also beatable. Faced a good goalie in Holtby, Murray wasn't elite like he was in their two cup runs and they got eliminated. And again, this pains me to say as a Flyers fan, but if you asked me who I rather have in the playoffs, I'll take Crosby, Malkin, Brassard, Kessel and Guentzel over Matthews, Tavares, Kadri, Nylander and Marner. I'd rather face the Leafs than face Pittsburgh or Tampa but I guess third behind those teams isn't bad
Pens are definitely formidable, but they are also getting old, they will start regressing soon. As for the Leafs, and depth for that matter, yes its important but the Leafs have loads of it. Wing depth is easy to find if you draft well and develop players. Toronto spends more money on player development and some teams spend on their entire teams budget. Its nuts how much effort they've put into player development and it works, just look at a guy like Johnsson who's a blue chip prospect who was a 7th round pick. Yeah he's older (25 years old) but he was developed into a guy who'll be a big contributor. Overpaying on depth is what kills teams in the cap world.
Toronto spent 11 million a year on Tavares and are way deeper this year than they were last year. Tavares gives them more depth than JVR, Bozak and Komarov combined and they now make 15 million a year.
If you're talking 3-4 years from now, then Tamps is dust, half of your best players are in their 30's and likely not nearly as effective and for Toronto, Matthews, Marner and Nylander will be in their mid 20's. Toronto will be scary good in 3-4 years. Who cares about losing some depth guys, its why you draft players, to fill out the depth. Every pick doesn't have to be a home run. They've already hit their homers, now they need to hit a bunch of singles and doubles and let the home runs (Tavares, Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Reilly and Kadri), cash those runs in.