This is such a tough situation. He's a generational talent. He really should be dominating in the playoffs. Absolutely no reason why he shouldn't be imposing his will and winning games for us in the post season. Aside from the game 4 epic comeback on the Lightning, he failed to take over a single game in the post season.
I love him as a player, and I honestly think there are only a handful of players in the league that are better than him, but I just don't know if he is worth the % of our cap that is relative to that top end NHL talents. Sure his regular season achievements have been outstanding, and I genuinely think he is the greatest Maple Leaf of all time, but you gotta do more in april/may for me to want to allocate 17-20% of our cap to.
I am not trying to suggest he isn't worth the money his camp is likely pushing for, but at the end of the day we need that value to show in the playoffs. Thats ultimately all I care about.
I genuinely don't know where to go from here. It just feels foolish to think anything will change in the future. I love him as a player, but if the value isnt there on an extension, it almost certainly will be in a trade. We have to consider all of the options at this point TBH. Never thought I'd ever say that