The way the Maple Leafs have been built, filling in around their elite talent on the cheap was always going to be the way they attempted to make their roster and cap structure work. After all, if you want the rare luxury in the NHL of having more than two or three stars on your team, that’s just about the only conceivable way of operating, particularly when a whopping zero of those stars are on their entry-level contracts. Given that the NHL isn’t the NBA, and the Leafs can’t leave their stars on for the entirety of the game (let alone guarantee they’re even involved in the biggest plays in the most important moments), it’s safe to say those “cheap” players on the fringes have to be more than mannequins if they want their team to do more than just put together a decent regular season.



So, for the Maple Leafs and their fans, enter Ilya Mikheyev. He’s damn-near penned into the team’s opening night lineup, as a league-minimum...