One point about these numbers is the age of the core of both teams. The Penguins didn't make the playoffs this year and it's been years since they've won a playoff round. There's a 10 year age difference on average. Leafs are paying for players in their prime.
- PrinceLH
Making the playoffs is a 20 player comparison, and Pittsburgh didn't miss them because of their big three.
Comparing Pittsburgh's top 2C+1D with Toronto's on a current cost to performance ratio, and Pittsburgh comes out ahead. That extra 9.14 million in cap space gives them enough room to sign a couple of good players to help fill out their depth as well.