everyone will blame the "core 4" and/or the coach but Toronto legitimately had one of the worst defensive corps of any playoff team i've ever seen
Cap related. Can't really put together a better D when you have so much money tied up on 4 guys. Now that they signed Nylander to another +10 million per year contract they only have 18 million in cap space this summer. They screwed themselves again. They essentially need to revamp their entire D core aside from Reilly, find a goalie and fill out the rest of their forward group... 18 million to do all that is nothing. They've been putting out a budget defense/goalies for years and it looks like it'll continue.
What a difference that team could've looked like if they didn't go fishing for JT. Imagine if that team landed Dougie Hamilton or Alex Pietrangelo as free agents a few years ago. They have no cap flexibility to do anything.