I mean, it works. I'm just a little scared of the top 4. Liljegren hasn't shown me that he's ready for the NHL. Throwing him on the top pairing, idk...

Sandin and Lili will be Torontos bottom pairing next year. Oz will prove he is a good player to play with Dermott on the second pairing and the top pairing will be Reilly and Zaitsev. That is next year. Lili and Sandin will develop together and be the future where as Toronto may move on from Oz to bring in a D to play with Reilly. That being said, moving Zaitsev is not the answer.

Maybe not paying Marner the 2nd paid RWer, Nylander the top 8th RWer and Matthews the second highest paid player in the league would save cap. Holl and Sbisa aren't the answer.

It’s almost like they need to move Zaitsev though, they don’t really have the cap space for Nylander if they do keep him

Why not? Matthews will very soon be the 2nd best player in the league. Marner looks like he could be the best RW or in the conversation for that in the near future as well. Nylander despite what everyone in world seems to think of him is not far behind Marner. Why is paying your best players fair contracts a bad thing? Why do people say these guys need to take haircuts so we can afford to pay other players contracts that are higher than they should be.

Sure if you pay these guys a couple million less than their market value who can spend a bit more elsewhere but if that is what it takes to get your core signed long term, why is that a problem? So we can't overpay depth guys? Great, if you want to win and play on this powerhouse offensive unit, you are taking the hit, not the stars. They are the ones who run the show.

Zaitsev isn't the problem. Gardiner is coming off the books and there is no reason to resign him. So is Hainsey.

Zaitsev is far more valuable than that, at least to us

The question shouldn't be why not, it would be why. I'm not against paying fair contracts, it's why should be the Leafs pay their own guys more than they should? I know it's subjective, it's not a question of haircuts.
For instance Marner...and I'll ask again, he is really worth of Kucherov money? Kuchervov who was two year away from being a UFA, a 85 and 100 point guy.

Is Marner worth Kucherov money? Right now? Probably not. Here is the thing though.

Kucherov scored 65 and 66 points in his first 2 complete NHL seasons at the age of 20 and 21 I believe. Marner was slightly behind that in year 1 and better in year 2. So far he's on pace to pass Kucherov's 3rd season totals of 85 points. So the question for me isn't about what he is now, but where he is going? And I think its pretty safe to say he's a special player. I'm sure a legion of "non hater" fans of other teams will jump all over that but its looking pretty accurate so far.

So what should we do? Many want more than anything for him to do the same thing as Kucherov, a 3 year bridge and then a massive 8 year deal, but that is really short sighted. I'd rather have a good idea of what the player is going to develop into and sign him to what it will take to get that 8 year deal coming out of the ELC. Otherwise you have a Tavares situation where he's looking for huge money in his late 20's.

UFA years and all that crap doesn't mean as much to me as others on here. I think players want certainty. They want security and stars want the big term. For me cost certainty with the core is the most important part of cap management and getting these guys for the lowest price it takes to get them locked up long term is a job well done. If that means Marner get's 9 million, Nylander 7.5 and Matthews 12, so be it. Its not ideal but its far from a problem, they will all more than earn that money.

It will though cause other issues on the roster, and you'll see a lot of turnover through the depth guys but that again shouldn't be a problem as long as the team puts a big focus on developing players and has prospects that develop, there won't be a problem there either.

TO is lucky, they have an elite core that is for the most part all really young.