Former Leafs defenseman reveals biggest flaw in Matthews era

His argument was stemmed from the recent article from The Athletic showing a ranking of NHL management and how they've handled their moves this summer.

He explains in his interview that the salary structure of the Maple Leafs is what's hindering the teams development of players and drafting. It's been well documented that the Leafs are top heavy with four players earning over $40 million of the salary cap. Coupled with Morgan Rielly who is north of $7 million per season the top five players on the team are over 50%.

Colaiacovo feels at this salary structure has locked the Leafs into a cycle where they cannot move forward in terms of team development especially on defense and the ability to attract free agents who could help bolster other parts of the lineup including the bottom 6 for secondary scoring, shutdown defensemen and improved goaltending.

This summer, general manager Brad Treliving has managed to bring in two notable defensemen in Chris Tanev and Oliver Ekman Larsson.

These defensemen will certainly improve the team's overall play however to Colaiacovo's point, if the organization were to draft and develop stud defensemen they would be on your team in their third or fourth year giving you valuable minutes and a potential to push the team forward.

They also would give you the ability to control their salary for at least three to five years before having to pay them the bigger dollars which could lead to long playoff runs and potentially a Stanley Cup with Matthews and Nylander running this team.

It remains to be seen on how this will all play out, but this argument will continue as long as this salary structure is in place.