COVID not Team Construction sank the Leafs

Team: 2024-25 Montreal Canadiens

Initial Creation Date: May 5, 2024

Published: May 5, 2024

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

It's fun to poke fun at Leafs fans because they can be a bit "hoity toity" about their precious core 4. On some jerk Habs fan level I'm glad they lost again. Then there's this other part of me that is admittedly jealous of the team they assembled and who just feels bad for them and the bad luck they've had to endure because of an unexpectedly stagnant cap.

I will say this as many times as it needs to be said. If it had not been for COVID, this iteration of the Leafs would have won the cup at least once in the past 4 years. Yes their core 4 are not tough enough. Yes their defense core and goaltending has not been up to playoff standards the past 4 years. But here's the truth that each and every one of you who is gleefully licking your chops this morning at the end of the Core 4 era know: If the cap had gone up as expected - this would not have been an issue. They would have beefed up the defense core because UFAs would have made them a first choice as Tavares did. They would have added team toughness the same way.

This Leafs team was not fatally flawed, they made two huge management mistakes:

1) They assumed the cap would go up
2) When it didn't go up, they refused to sacrifice an elite player to beef up all other areas on the team

That's it. The drafting was excellent. The development was exemplary. The players they bet on were Elite. Just horrible bad luck.