James Tanner: Shattenkirk + Yakupov + Thornton
Forget how long it’s been since the Toronto Maple Leafs won a Stanley Cup – when was the last time they were even one of the best teams in the league?
If the Leafs sign Kevin Shattenkirk, they’ll be close to having one of, if not the actual best rosters in the NHL.
Everyone preaches patience and talks as if the Leafs have years to try and get this thing right.
They don’t.
They have two. They should be smart, but they shouldn’t be patient. The time for patience has passed: While Nylander, Matthews and Marner have the lowest possible cap hits, the Leafs have to go all-in.
I don’t even know how this is a debate. The Salary Cap has changed how an NHL team builds a winner. Teams that can have elite talent on entry-level deals have a massive advantage. If one of those players is Auston Matthews, then doubly so.
Given that you mostly aquire those players by drafting high, and thus being a bad team, most of the teams that even have these players are not able to compete while their stars are young.
The Leafs, however, were blessed with JVR, Andersen, Kadri, Gardiner. That is four all-star caliber players in their primes, and on significantly team-friendly contracts.
To combine those players, along with Zaitsev, Reilly and Bozak, with the ‘big three’ making hardly any money, plus having additional cheap/good players in Hyman, Brown, Kapanen, the Leafs are set up to succeed like no team in the history of the NHL’s salary cap era.
The Toronto Maple Leafs would have won their division last season had they had even just neutral luck as far as overtime games are concerned. They nearly beat the best team in the NHL in the first round of the playoffs and they have a TON OF CURRENT CAP ROOM.
There will never, ever, be a better chance to ice a stacked team.
That is why they should sign Kevin Shattenkrik.
And Joe Thornton.
And Nail Yakupov.
And worry about the consequences when they’re mopping up the champagne.