I dont know but I'll tell you this much you won't find another franchise C of that calibre probably for a generation so you could probably kiss winning a cup for another decade or so goodbye
This is a failed reasoning and simply fanboyism.
Teams with worse centers than Matthews have won cups (2019 Blues being a clear example)
Teams with worse wingers than Marner/Nylander have won cups (2023 Knights being an example)
Teams with worse D-man than Rielly have won cups (2017 Pens being an example)
The leafs players see their play drop significantly come playoffs. The core 5 make up 50-55% of our cap allocation and produce maybe 75% of required value for us to be a viable cup contender.
Matthews is not and never has been a 60G per 82 scorer come playoffs. He has never been a 50G per 82 or 40G per 82.
He avgs 31 G + 40A for 71 pts per 82 over his 9 years as a leaf with a net AAV over those 9 years of ~8.9M on a avg salary cap over those 9 years of 80.67M.
He has made on avg ~11% of avg salary cap since his first game in 2017.
In that time frame he is 38th in total pts, 21st in ppg for players >50 games played.
He has not failed once or twice, he has failed over the 9 years of his career for the leafs in the playoffs. This is a career playoff choker.
A Joe thornton/Patrick Marleau level player who sucks when the refs tighten the whistles, and when defenses are preventing chances with tighter and more restrictive and body sacrificing defense.
He is a career loser and showed he takes 0 responsibility with his dumb comment on this team losing to "too many passangers" instead of the core 5 again f***ing choking hard and being shut down like its nothing