The only way Toronto will be unable to accommodate the Big 3 is if the Salary Cap plunges downward (will not happen).
The following quote from a recent article by Damien Cox may be of interest to you :
" Unless the Leafs can convince two of the three to take below-market deals — and why would those players do such a thing? — they can’t last together. Based on the numbers coming out of Edmonton with their young stars, Toronto’s terrific trio would likely require something between $25-30 million in annual cap hits by the 2019-20 season. With the cap inching upwards in recent years, let’s assume by the summer of 2019, it will still be less than $80 million, which means at $30 million in combined salaries Nos. 34, 29 and 16 would be taking up more than 37 per cent of Toronto’s payroll.
That math just doesn’t work. One, at least, will probably have to go. So it will be Matthews and one of the other two.
In the meantime, you try to max out the possibilities now while you have all three under affordable contracts. Bring in Marleau, Dominic Moore and Ron Hainsey, and see if you can make magic this season or next. It would have been nice to land Travis Hamonic as well, but the Leafs still have James van Riemsdyk to dangle to get the defenceman they need.
The cap is making the Leafs, and other teams, move more quickly than they otherwise would prefer. This system is all about making sure teams don’t get too good, or at least too far ahead of the pack, and if and when they reach championship quality, to make sure they are chopped down to size immediately.
Look at what has happened to the Penguins less than a month after claiming a second consecutive Stanley Cup. They have lost Nick Bonino, Trevor Daley, Hainsey, Chris Kunitz and goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.
Look at Washington. The Capitals dared to go for it last season and have now seen Kevin Shattenkirk, Justin Williams, Nate Schmidt and Karl Alzner stripped away, plus they had to pretty much give away winger Marcus Johansson in order to retain T.J. Oshie, Dmitry Orlov and Evgeny Kuznetsov at the prices they were commanding.
Tampa Bay had to shed Jonathan Drouin for a prospect. Edmonton needed to move Jordan Eberle to free up dough for Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
It’s happening everywhere. Tough, agonizing decisions between who stays and who goes, and not just with older players, like Chicago having to let 33-year-old Patrick Sharp go back in 2015 (he’s now going back to the Windy City as a cheaper player after two years in Dallas). Young, promising players with upside — Drouin, Johansson — are having to be sacrificed at the altar of cap control.
Edmonton and Toronto represent the really sobering news. They are teams that sunk all the way to the bottom and endured awful results for several seasons to accumulate high draft picks. Now that they’ve secured quality talent with those picks and are ready to compete, they’re learning they may not be able to keep their young cores together for more than a few years.
But these are the rules. For the foreseeable future, this is how the NHL is going to work. You’ll be able to have two big money stars, maybe three for a time, but that’s it. No more dynasties. No more teams like the 2002 Detroit Red Wings with a double-digit number of Hall of Fame players. "
