Toronto Maple Leafs GM discusses his thought process behind desire to keep Core Four intact

By Cole Shelton

Modified Sep 25, 2023 15:25 GMT

Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving decided to keep the core group together. After the Maple Leafs were eliminated in five games in the second round of the playoffs to the Florida Panthers, many wondered what that would mean for the core four. The core four is made up of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares, and William Nylander.

The future of the four was the topic of debate, especially once the Maple Leafs hired Brad Treliving to be their new general manager. Ultimately, Treliving decided to keep the core four intact, and he spoke to Jonas Siegel of The Athletic about his reason for keeping them together:

"I don’t know if I really just focused on the core group. You came in and you had an outside view of the team. My whole view was just, let’s take a look at how we build our team here. The first thing was, these are really good players. So it’s great to say — that great line, “Oh, I’m going to make some changes.” Oh, okay. So just to stand up and say, “I changed the core.” But you actually got worse. So it’s great to say, “I changed the core.”

"But moving a player for a lesser player doesn’t make any sense to me. The more I got to know these guys, there’s the talent and then the attitude and the drive and all the things that they’ve been through, I think those experiences are gonna serve us well. Because they’ve gone through all these experiences to make them who they are today."

Treliving certainly has a point, that trading them just to trade them would make the Toronto Maple Leafs worse. The core four proved they could make it out of the first round last year, and the hope is that the additions of Tyler Bertuzzi and Max Domi will help them get over the top.

Toronto Maple Leafs among Stanley Cup favorites

With Brad Treliving keeping the core four intact, the Toronto Maple Leafs are tied for the second-best odds to win the Stanley Cup in 2024.

Toronto is +900 to win the Cup, which is tied with the New Jersey Devils and only trails the Carolina Hurricanes at +800. The Maple Leafs are also the favorites to win the Atlantic Division this season, which would set them up for easier matchups in the playoffs.

The Toronto Maple Leafs will open its season on Oct. 11 at home against the Montreal Canadiens.