Stamkos isn't coming to Toronto because they don't want him. The days of parachuting in high priced saviours is over. That type of ineffective team building is what led to the current teardown... they're not going to muck it up by going back to old habits.
When's the last time Toronto had a competitive team with a solid core that they had drafted and/or developed themselves? You'd have to go back to the 1970s to find it, go back to the 1960s to find one that became champions. You build your own core, you bring in assorted pieces to compliment it. Those pieces are interchangeable year over year but the core stays your own until they age gracefully and are replaced by new core pieces you've developed yourself. Current Leafs management has no interest in Stamkos.
When's the last time Toronto had a competitive team with a solid core that they had drafted and/or developed themselves? You'd have to go back to the 1970s to find it, go back to the 1960s to find one that became champions. You build your own core, you bring in assorted pieces to compliment it. Those pieces are interchangeable year over year but the core stays your own until they age gracefully and are replaced by new core pieces you've developed yourself. Current Leafs management has no interest in Stamkos.