I think it was 4 players making up that total, Florda also had a similar cap allocation the year before this one (it included dead cap space and a goalie who started as a backup).
To be fair, the argument always changes, it was "no one making 10 million won", "can't have so much cap tied up into so few players", "can't have so much cap tied up in so few forwards", and now I am seeing "can't have so much cap tied up into so few forwards who play the same way".
The issue is less about cap allocation and more about no one stepping up (this includes depth).
The Panthers had $6 million in dead cap before last year and Edmonton had Nurse and Ceci making $13 million last year.
There are overpayments and poor cap management on every team.
The issue for the Leafs is every star player has stepped up at some point, but none of them have done it consistently or for long enough stretches, and it is always staggered and never in the same year.
That is a huge issue.
Another issue is depth scoring has never got it done either (ROR was our best piece, but not sure he is depth), which is not a cap issue, and we have tried a ton of different depth pieces, people thought Bertuzzi and Domi were our saviors this year. Outside of ROR, our best-performing depth has been able to score at a pace of 47pts/82gms.
We have had varying issues yearly in the playoffs, but pretending that it is only the core 4 that is a problem is where people seem to take offense. I know personally, that it is why I defend them, not because I think the criticism is unwarranted, it is because the criticism is more than they deserve, they deserve some, but not all. This thread is a perfect example because Marner has struggled in some series, but his series where he has played well are now void and forgotten, he has not been bad for 8 years, in every series, and people can't seem to handle that point of view.
