Toronto Maple Leafs are incorrect and ill-advised to clog up roster with duds

The Toronto Maple Leafs have had many factors that kept them from winning a Stanley Cup - or advancing further in the playoffs - during the years that Auston Matthews has been on the team.

The Toronto Maple Leafs were more adversely affected by Covid than any other franchise, due to the timing of their big contracts, and they also had series lost to hot goalies, bad luck, injuries, and blown calls by referees.

But one thing that could have helped them overcome this adversity and win anyway would have been if they had developed better young players to help them out. Had any of Timothy Liljegren, Rasmus Sandin, Travis Dermott, Andreas Johonsson, Kasperi Kapanen or Connor Brown turned into star players, the Leafs might have done better.

But maybe those players just never got into big enough roles earlier enough to help enough while they were still cheap because of all the vets the Leafs brought in to take their minutes over the years.

Perhaps it's not so much about what players you draft, but how you deploy them. Maybe if you never trust your young players to play above the bottom of the lineup it stunts their development.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are blocking their young players from succeeding

In the NHL, the actual measured outpput of all non-star players is similar. If we use Wins Against Replacement as the measurment, then an MVP in the NHL is worth approximately six Wins. The worst player might be worth 0 but the best non-star won't even be worth one Win over 82 games.

Therefore, teams should favor cheap players over expensive players at the bottom of the lineup. Mid-range contracts to the likes of David Kampf and Calle Jarnkrok are what hurt a team's salary cap, not their stars.

When it comes to cheap players, teams should favor players who are young over players who are old because of upside.

Where teams go wrong can be seen in the Brad Treliving quote that has been going around this week. I'm paraphrasing, but what he basically said was that he doesn't care how old a player is- if they can help him win that's who he wants.

That sounds good, but the problem is that the NHL is extremely biased in favor of veteren players. Given equal ice-time and the same role, Nick Robertson is highly likely to outperform a 35 year-old Max Pacioretty. The problem is that 100% of NHL coaches are going to choose to play the veteren over the kid if they are anywhere close.

And this has been the Leafs problem for years. Marleau, Thornton, Spezza, Edmundson, Foligno and more. Now it's Pacioretty, Dewar, Lorentz, Reaves, Kampf, OEL and Hakanpaa.

Easton Cowan is 100% deserving of being on this team. So is Nick Robertson. Timothy Liljegren should not have to win a top-four job in camp. Nikita Grebenkin should probably have a better than average shot to make it, and guys like Alex Steeves should have jobs at the bottom of the lineup instead of ridiculously having Ryan Reaves on the roster.

Time and again, the Toronto Maple Leafs are too afraid to let their young players take on bigger roles and responsibility. They keep them in the AHL too long, they don't promote them fast enough. And they consistantly and constantly block them with non-star veterns the team doesn't need.

Caden Weber and Topi Niemela should not be competing for jobs with Phillipe Myers and Jani Hakanpaa. Cowan, Minten, McMann, Robertson and Grebenkin should all have jobs on this team and shouldn't have to worry about PTOs let alone Jarnkrok, Kampf, Dewar or Reaves.

There is a reason the Toronto Maple Leafs are pretty much the only team not to develop a low draft pick into a star over the last 20 years. It's embarssing.