Quoting: ChiHawk
No, I'm simply pointing to the results. This team is still unbalanced and that is exactly what led to multiple first round exits. Trying to front load the offense with talent and cap spend is not a good model in the cap era. Defense and goaltending wins championships with a couple stars on offense. The Leafs management doesn't get that for some reason. They have over $40M, 1/2 the cap, tied in 4 offensive players instead of spreading that around between defense, offense and goalie, this is a formula of what not to do in the NHL cap era. If the Leafs win a cup, I'll happily eat my words but sitting in no man's land without lottery picks is not a good place to be.
Okay, what lead the multiple 1st round exits are the following.
Year 1 of the Matthews era.
TO finished 8th when no one expected them to make the playoffs. They lost to the best team in the league Washington in 6 games, all 1 goal games.
Year 2
TO was the 5th best team in the league and had to take on the 3rd best team in round one and went 7 games losing to Boston. This series wasn't as close as it looked
Year 3
TO is forced to take on Boston again, TO was the 7th best team in the league, Boston was the 3rd best. In that series TO was the better team at 5v5 but allowed a PP goal on half their Penalties and Babcock was soundly outcoached. They should have won that but stupid coaching decisions cost them the series.
Everything you mention is just the talking head rhetoric that people love to throw around. It's lazy, not well thought out and all around just wrong. For example, TO allowed less goals against than Tampa last year but zero people questioned Tampa's team balance or defence. This year, if you take out a handful of games TO's goals against drops dramatically and the underlying numbers suggest their defence is not bad, but that doesn't stop people like you from saying the same crap as usual. The reality is, TO is a good team that played like crap so start the season, fired their coach and now have the best record in the league since their new coach took over. Of course that doesn't matter because people like you will continue to say the same crap you always say because actual stats and results don't matter. The only thing that matters is your flimsy argument that makes you feel superior.