Money (i.e. front loading, signing bonuses) doesn't matter. It never has in Toronto. The board could likely afford 2 teams if they wanted.
Rielly and Kadri took discounts and this was clear from day one. Even the signing threads will attest to this as most expected a higher cap hit on both contracts.
Tavares turned down SJ's 13M/year offer.
Not saying all players take discounts (i.e. Matthews) but Toronto has definitely got a few lucky ones under its belt.
But that's what I mean. Not every team can frontload, and if you can, players love it. Who doesn't love money upfront?
I tend to remember kadri being a question mark before that deal. Now that I check, he was coming off 39 and 45 point seasons prior to that new contract kicking in, so I don't know if 4.5 Mil was exactly a discount tbh.
As for Tavares, yeah you could say that was a slight discount, though I wonder how that sharks contract was structured compared to what he got from Toronto. And if we qualify these as discounts, then I suppose we should also say mcdavid gave a discount to Edmonton.