The narrative that the Toronto Maple Leafs new GM is a tough negotiator ready to kill the team’s country-club atmosphere is, in a word, disgusting. It’s untrue, and it’s wrongheaded.
The Toronto Maple Leafs used to pay their star players and not worry too much about it, because the math says that’s what you should do.
In a salary cap league where star players drive results, the optimum way to spend money is the “studs and duds” way where you spend on elite players and go cheap everywhere else.