I sort of feel bad for Toronto (never thought I'd say this) as all of their big guns seem to be all about the Benjamins and not about the team - I can't really think of many examples of so many players out of ELC making so much damn bank with so much drama so early on. I guess that's the price for being such a huge market with so much scrutiny and tire pumping.
I think that's the evolution of how contracts are going to go and a dilemma teams throughout the league will face. I think, over time, heavy retirement contracts will become a thing of the past. Players will get paid more coming out of ELC and pre-30 years of age, seeing declining contracts as they age out. The problem for teams will be that transition period where they have older guys making big bucks and young guys wanting those same big bucks. It's going to create some animosity. Also some substantial difficulty for teams and the CBA ultimately because an RFA contract isn't any sort of protection for teams from salary cap issues.
I don't really think it's a reflection on Toronto at all, rather just what the kids are expecting now thanks to some folks getting those deals that at the time were questionable. There aren't going to be many players who settle now for what Scheifele or Ehlers did in Winnipeg, those are substantial bargains. Winnipeg will experience the same this summer with Connor and Laine (the same being Toronto's pain).
Toronto is kind of fortunate in that they aren't sitting on many 30+ players earning too much money for their value. The situation for them is unfortunate in that they're likely to have three forwards making $10+.
