Leafs have less cap commited to Matthews, Nylander, JT, and Marner (projected) than the Pens did in Crosby, Malkin, Kessel and Letang when they won. While yes, Matthews / JT are not Crosby / Malkin, Marner is easily as good or better than Kessel and Nylander is better than any winger they had on the team. They have better depth at forward and a better defense.
Things are always tight when you have a good team. I hate the Matthews contract from a value perspective but from a Salary cap perspective, I'd take being up against the cap and trying to cram all my stars in there over against the cap with guys like Clarkson, Phaneuf, Kessel, Bozak, etc tacking up most of the cap.
I just don't even get it. Leafs are getting their big deals out of the way and are doing so before the cap is projected to climb with a new expansion and gambling revenue. Their pieces are not in their primes.
Tampa is all in and most of their guys are near the end of their 20's. Their reign is almost over. Winnipeg is going to lose a number of top 4 D and most of their F depth. Someone worry about them rather than the Leafs losing Gardiner (who everyone on here hates on and says is terrible) and Brown who is on the 4th line.