While it may not be sustainable (time will tell), the COVID pandemic could be a blessing for the Leafs. It allowed us to acquire decent UFA depth where we wouldn't have otherwise been able to get those types of players in a "normal" offseason. Again, time will tell if they are the right mix....
Only in a very, very shortsighted way.... in reality, the Leafs were/are arguably the hardest hit team by the pandemic.
Toronto's top 3 paid players, as compared to other teams who have a "top-heavy strcuture".
Matthews/Tavares/Marner = $33.5m
Kane/Toews/Seabrook = $27.9m
Karlsson/Couture/Burns = $27.5m
Kucherov/Stamkos/Vasilevksy = $27.5m
Doughty/Kopitar/Brown = $26.8m
McDavid/Draisaitl/Neal = $26.8m
Crosby/Malkin/Letang = $25.4m
Stone/Pacioretty/Pietrangelo = $25.3m
I don't believe any team other than Tampa has their 4th highest paid player making $7m, so if you expand it to top 4 and include Nylander, the gap gets wider.
Toronto went "top-heavy" to a substantially greater extent than any other team in the league, and did so with the assumption of a constantly rising salary cap that would result in them sliding down this list as time went on. With COVID, the cap is going to be flat (or very close to flat) for a while -- quite possibly the duration of Matthews deal.
This year saw a massive depression of mid-level salaries due to COVID-19 -- but the big guys (notably Alex Pietrangelo & Torrey Krug) didn't really escape that wrath either. Next year, there's a new team coming in, which is going to free up a bunch of money "in the system" for the mid-level guys to get paid again -- it's going to be that much more difficult/impossible to put together a roster with sufficient depth to win in the playoffs.
Yes, the Leafs are well setup to continue to backfill as they find gems like Mikheyev (and IMO are the best team at recruiting european/KHL undrafted free agents), they're an attractive destination for older vets, and (at least before Dubas' arrival) seemed to have a reasonably good system that churned out at least 1 full time NHL player from outside of the first round every year.
However, one thing to realize about all these pieces that we find -- is that they don't often make for good 3rd liners until they've had quite a few years in the league, and get paid well. St. Louis won the cup on the strength of their D and 2 seasoned vets (Maroon & Bozak) on their 3rd line. Tampa won the cup with Gourde, Coleman, and Goodrow. Typically what you get from the leafs "talent pool" is skill guys, who might be able to play a complimentary role in your top 6, but they're not going to have the grit/edge/checking ability to be your typical 3rd liner. That comes with time in the league. We're not like Boston or St. Louis where our top line is features one of the best shutdown centres in the game. Matthews, Marner, and Tavares are offence-first players.
Maybe it works (beyond this year) if Robertson can develop into a bonafide top 6 forward, and you move Nylander and use that money towards Hyman and a quality 3rd line.
The problem isn't just $33m to 3 players, or $40m to 4 players, it's that amount of money to guys who all kind of do the same thing. If you're going to pay a guy $11m, he's gotta be able to make a $2m player produce like a $5m player. He's gotta make a $4m player produce like a $7m guy. He can't rely on having another $7m or $11m player on his line.