It feels like every year come offseason the conversation circulating Toronto is that the Leafs core four can’t get it done when the stakes get high. In the Matthews era, the Leafs have had just one playoff series victory in seven outings, this coming last season. This has largely been blamed on Toronto’s top four players combining for almost half of the team’s cap space, leaving little room for a strong supporting cast. This is their last chance to get it done with this core. If they don’t do significant playoff damage this year, the question shifts to: who goes this summer?
The one name we can immediately scratch off this list is the league’s top goal scorer Auston Matthews who just captured his third Rocket Richard trophy. Finishing just shy seventy goals, Matthews has been one of the NHL’s most elite players since his debut in 2016 and he continues to get better on both sides of the ice every season.
William Nylander just signed an eight year contract worth 92 million (11.5 AAV) at the start of the calendar year, making it unlikely for him to be the odd man out either. Not that Nylander should be the man to go anyways, coming off a career high of 98 points in 82 games. He has been Toronto’s most consistent playoff performer in recent years and has been a noticeable absence in the first three games of this year’s first round against Boston.
Can the Maple Leafs win a Stanley Cup with this Core Four making $46.65M against the cap? 🏆 pic.twitter.com/BAVQwjmy0m
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) January 8, 2024
Leafs captain John Tavares would be the ideal candidate for many as he no longer plays up to his 11 million per season contract. Unfortunately for Toronto, Tavares holds a full no move clause and it would be a stretch for him to waive that. In addition the Maple Leaf captain only has a pair of seasons remaining on his deal, where at the conclusion he will likely take a pay cut to finish his career in the six.
This takes us to forward Mitch Marner. Marner, who makes 10.9 million per season stands to be the most reasonable candidate for the Leafs to move. The 26 year old Toronto native, despite being a big time regular season performer, has been consistently criticized for not stepping up enough when the lights get bright. Although he led toronto in points during last year’s playoffs, many of those came as garbage points in blowouts and he has struggled in prior years against more physical teams like Boston and Montreal.
Toronto can more than likely get a large haul returned in a Marner trade. Enough is enough and barring an unforeseen legacy run in these playoffs, the Maple Leafs need to shake things up. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. This experiment has gone on for far too long, and this is the last chance for Toronto’s core four.