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Toronto Maple Leafs: 5 Players To Add for Cup Run

By James Tanner

WINNIPEG, MB April 20: Winnipeg Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck (37) stops Minnesota Wild forward Nino Niederreiter (22) during the Stanley Cup Playoffs First Round Game 5 between the Winnipeg Jets and the Minnesota Wild on April 20, 2018 at the Bell MTS Place in Winnipeg MB. (Photo by Terrence Lee/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
WINNIPEG, MB April 20: Winnipeg Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck (37) stops Minnesota Wild forward Nino Niederreiter (22) during the Stanley Cup Playoffs First Round Game 5 between the Winnipeg Jets and the Minnesota Wild on April 20, 2018 at the Bell MTS Place in Winnipeg MB. (Photo by Terrence Lee/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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Toronto Maple Leafs
Toronto Maple Leafs /

TORONTO, ON – JULY 1: John Tavares #91 of the Toronto Maple Leafs poses with his jersey after signing with the Maple Leafs, beside Kyle Dubas, General Manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, and Brendan Shanahan, President of the Toronto Maple Leafs, at the Scotiabank Arena on July 1, 2018 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Mark Blinch/NHLI via Getty Images)

The Toronto Maple Leafs are one of the NHL’s best teams.

Centre depth is the most important thing in the NHL and the Leafs have three of the best.  John Tavares is 3rd among NHL forwards in Goals Above Replacement averaged over the last three seasons.  Auston Matthews is currently the best goal scorer in the NHL. Nazem Kadri would be the #1 centre on several NHL teams, and is easily top 20-30 at that position.  He is one of only three centres to score 30 in each of the last two seasons.

In addition to having one of the NHL’s best teams, the Leafs also happen to have a ton of cap space for the upcoming seasons, about 20 or so million’s worth, once they move Nathan Horton to the LTIR.

And the Leafs also happen to have a collection of players in their prime (Gardiner, Rielly, Andersen, Kadri and Tavares), cheap young players (Dermott, Carrick, Johnsson, Kapanen) and young players still getting better (Nylander, Matthews and Marner).

In a year, some of their in-their-prime players will have declined slightly.  In a year, Matthews and Marner won’t be dirty cheap and will take up probably close to $20 million in cap space.

So, while the Toronto Maple Leafs should be able to be a Cup Contender for years to come (owing to a Tavares, Matthews combo)  they are never going to have the stars align quite like they are for this coming season.

Therefore it makes perfect sense for the Leafs to go ‘all-in’ for this year. That doesn’t mean that they rip their team apart and sacrifice the future just for one year, but it does mean making controlled and calculated risks in order to take advantage of a once-in-lifetime culmination of events that are going to give them the best shot they’ll ever have.  (It’s quite possible that things have never aligned this well for any team since the salary cap came into effect).

So with that in mind, here is a list of players the Leafs should pursue in their quest for the Stanley Cup in 2019.

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