{"id":199399,"date":"2026-09-07T19:52:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T19:52:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/199399\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T19:52:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T19:52:21","slug":"montreal-canadiens-young-core-is-showing-the-maple-leafs-what-they-got-wrong-the-hockey-writers-toronto-maple-leafs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/199399\/","title":{"rendered":"Montreal Canadiens’ Young Core Is Showing the Maple Leafs What They Got Wrong – The Hockey Writers – Toronto Maple Leafs"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s an easy way to read a recent Montreal Canadiens story<\/a>. Their young stars are taking less money because they want to win. The Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a>\u2018 young stars took more money because they wanted to get paid. End of story. Except I\u2019m not sure that\u2019s the story at all. <\/p>\n

The more interesting thing happening in Montreal isn\u2019t that Juraj Slafkovsky<\/a> or Ivan Demidov apparently aren\u2019t interested in squeezing every last dollar out of their contracts. It\u2019s that Montreal has created something those contracts are buying into. That\u2019s a pretty important distinction.<\/p>\n

The Young Canadiens Players Are Buying into a Team-Building Philosophy<\/p>\n

Demidov\u2019s agent, Dan Milstein, recently explained that his client actually wanted the eight-year deal and wanted it done quickly so Montreal would have room to add other players. Demidov\u2019s eight-year extension carries a $9.15-million cap hit<\/a>. Slafkovsky has made similar comments about wanting Stanley Cup rings more than additional money.<\/p>\n

\"IvanMontreal Canadiens right wing Ivan Demidov (David Kirouac-Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

And this isn\u2019t happening in isolation. Montreal has assembled a remarkably young group around Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Slafkovsky, Demidov and Lane Hutson, with Noah Dobson and Kaiden Guhle<\/a> also part of the long-term picture. The Canadiens reached the Eastern Conference Final last season, so these aren\u2019t just prospects talking about some distant future. They\u2019ve already had a taste of winning. That last part may be the key.<\/p>\n

The Taste of Winning Has Changed the Canadiens Conversation<\/p>\n

Toronto never really got to that point with its famous young core. That\u2019s where I think the HockeyFeed comparison is useful \u2014 and where it also needs a little caution. <\/p>\n

The Maple Leafs didn\u2019t fail because Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander were bad teammates who didn\u2019t care about winning. That\u2019s much too easy. They were outstanding players who happened to be paid like outstanding players.<\/p>\n

The problem was what happened underneath them. Toronto put an enormous amount of money into its elite forwards and then spent years trying to build the rest of the roster around them. The experiment produced plenty of regular-season success, but it didn\u2019t produce the championship that everybody assumed was coming. <\/p>\n

We Now Know How the Maple Leafs Core Four Story Ended<\/p>\n

Marner is gone. Toronto missed the playoffs last season. Matthews has two years remaining on his contract and has already acknowledged that he can\u2019t predict what his future<\/a> will look like beyond it.<\/p>\n

That makes Montreal\u2019s approach particularly interesting. The Canadiens aren\u2019t necessarily getting their young stars to leave huge amounts of money on the table. They\u2019re getting them to understand that the next dollar isn\u2019t necessarily the most important dollar.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a difference. If Demidov becomes a superstar, $9.15 million will look like a bargain. If Slafkovsky becomes the player Montreal hopes he will become, his contract will also look pretty good. But there\u2019s another benefit. The players know what the organization is trying to build. That\u2019s the part Toronto struggled to create. The Maple Leafs had talented players. They had good players. They had some excellent teams.<\/p>\n

What the Maple Leafs Didn\u2019t Have Was Roster Balance<\/p>\n

What they didn\u2019t have was enough inexpensive young talent arriving at exactly the right time to grow alongside the expensive stars and keep the roster balanced. Montreal is trying to do that differently. And here\u2019s the part I find most interesting from a Toronto perspective. Maybe the lesson isn\u2019t \u201cdon\u2019t pay your stars.\u201d That\u2019s far too simplistic. Maybe the lesson is \u201cdon\u2019t make your stars the entire plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MatthewMatthew Knies, Toronto Maple Leafs (Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

Thinking about the current Maple Leafs team, there\u2019s Matthews, Nylander, and Knies. Paying them isn\u2019t inherently a mistake. The mistake is assuming that three or four expensive players will somehow make the rest of the roster less important. They don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

In fact, they make the rest of the roster more important. Every million dollars spent on one player is a million dollars that can\u2019t be spent somewhere else. That\u2019s the NHL salary cap. It\u2019s not complicated.<\/p>\n

The Really Difficult Part for the Maple Leafs Is Knowing When to Spend<\/p>\n

Montreal appears to have some young players who understand that equation. They\u2019re essentially saying, \u201cGive us enough money to be happy, but leave enough for the team to stay good.\u201d That\u2019s a pretty powerful message.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s one more thing worth remembering. Montreal hasn\u2019t won anything yet. The Canadiens have a terrific young core. They have made a deep playoff run. They have players who appear genuinely excited about staying together. Now they have to prove that the culture survives as the money grows, the expectations rise, and the playoff losses start to hurt. As the Maple Leafs have discovered, that\u2019s when the real test begins. <\/p>\n

The Maple Leafs Young Core Was Supposed to Be a Shoo-In for the Stanley Cup<\/p>\n

Toronto\u2019s famous young core was once celebrated in almost exactly the same way Montreal\u2019s is being celebrated now. People were talking about Stanley Cups before the players had even learned how difficult it actually was to win one.<\/p>\n

So I wouldn\u2019t put Montreal on the other side of the argument just yet. But it is worth paying attention. For the first time in a long time, the Canadiens look like they are building something Toronto spent years trying to build: It\u2019s a young core that wants to win together \u2014 and understands that the players themselves can\u2019t be the whole salary-cap plan.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the part the Maple Leafs should be watching. Not whether Montreal\u2019s players are nicer. But whether Montreal has figured out how to make young stars, contracts, depth and winning all fit together. That\u2019s a much harder trick. And maybe a much more important one.<\/p>\n

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