The real reason the Maple Leafs couldn't keep Zach Hyman

The Toronto Maple Leafs “Core Four” plan was a novel idea for its time. The thought of paying four players more than half of the team’s salary cap allocation was ludicrous at the time. And it came at the expense of other key pieces like Zach Hyman.

But there was an actual method to the madness. When the Leafs extended William Nylander in 2018, and Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews in 2019, the plan was that the cap would continue to rise.

However, as Matthew Cauz noted, the flat-cap era following the COVID-19 pandemic destroyed the Maple Leafs’ Core Four strategy.

“The cap stops. From 2020 to 2024, the cap went from $81.5 million to $83.5 million. And if there was no COVID, and all the money that would have come in with the Seattle franchise, maybe the Maple Leafs get to keep Zach Hyman. Maybe the Maple Leafs get to keep other players.”

The comments, as stated on TSN’s 1st Up, alluded to the fact that Kyle Dubas’ brainchild failed because of the flat-cap era. And it just happened to coincide with the primes of Nylander, Marner, Matthews, and a still highly productive John Tavares. Morgan Rielly was still a fringe top-pairing blueliner.

While the situation does not excuse the Leafs from failing to make it past the first round of the playoffs, you have to wonder whether, if COVID had never happened, the team would have kept Zach Hyman.

The club could have also kept other players like Michael Bunting, Alex Kerfoot, Ilya Mikheyev, and some brief additions like Ryan O’Reilly and Noel Acciari.

But it was the loss of Hyman that stung the most. The Leafs lost the ideal linemate for Matthews and Marner. And while Bunting did a reasonably good job. It just wasn’t the same. The Leafs pretty much let a 50-goal scorer walk away, all because they didn’t want to pay him.

Heck, a rising cap could have allowed the Maple Leafs to pursue a high-end goalie instead of depending on Freddie Andersen and the mess that became Ilya Samsonov and Matt Murray. Even with that situation, the Leafs still had a chance to win.

Maple Leafs still had a chance to win and didn’t

Despite the valid point in the flat cap holding the Maple Leafs back, the team still had a chance to win. The Leafs had their best chance to win a Stanley Cup in 2021. The Leafs dominated the artificially created Canadian division, building up a 3-1 series lead on the Montreal Canadiens.

That collapse was perhaps the lowest point for the franchise in its troubling history. Even with some arguing that 2025’s Game 7 loss to the Panthers derailed the Maple Leafs, the fact is that 2021's blown series lead could have been the worst point for Toronto.

Imagine what would have happened if, COVID be damned, the Maple Leafs had gotten past the Canadiens. They could have ridden that wave all the way to the Stanley Cup Final as Montreal did.

And even if the Maple Leafs ultimately lost the Cup Final, that momentum would have been nearly impossible to stop. The Leafs could have broken through the way the Colorado Avalanche did in 2022.

Alas, that all remains as part of another what-if timeline.

As interesting as it may seem, the Maple Leafs have another shot at a similar timeline with Gavin McKenna. The fourths of the erstwhile Core Four remain.

Who knows, but McKenna might just be that spark that rekindles the spirit from roughly six years ago.

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