If the Toronto Maple Leafs don’t have playoff success this year, something has to give, right?
There’s no doubting the Toronto Maple Leafs skill. The core-four led by Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares and William Nylander is unbelievable. However, if that skill doesn’t translate into winning playoff rounds, action is needed.
When you look at the scenario of trading one of the core-four, it doesn’t really make sense.
Auston Matthews is essentially a carbon-copy of Alex Ovechkin 10 years ago, similar to how Mitch Marner is to Patrick Kane (though Kane was never a good defensive player). Toronto’s top-two superstars are unbelievable and are arguably one of the best duo’s in the NHL.
John Tavares is the captain of the team, while William Nylander has the best contract out of the group. At $6.9M, you could say that Nylander has one of the best contracts in the entire league, let alone on the Leafs.
So, how does a trade happen and which one of these players gets traded if things go sideways again?
Will the Toronto Maple Leafs Trade Their Core-Four?
If the salary-cap went up, as projected, we probably wouldn’t be having this problem. Matthews, Marner and Tavares all making $10M-plus would be fine, as many other players of their caliber would be making the same money, and the team would have cap-space to upgrade.
However, they’re stuck in a flat-cap world and nothing is changing anytime soon.
If the Leafs go out in the first round again, you have to do something. Marner is one of the best players in the NHL, but imagine the type of return you could get for him and the amount of cap-space you would save?
The package would be insane, but you would still never get the same player that Marner is. That’s the problem.
Also, as much as you’d love to trade John Tavares, who’s picking up that contract and giving a ton of assets for a guy who’s over 30-years-old? All you’d be doing is clearing cap-space at that point, instead of helping the team.
Could the team trade Matthews? I’m not even going to joke about that. The answer is no, and if they traded him, the city would erupt more than when Wayne Gretzky got traded.
So the only logical trade within the core-four is William Nylander. His contract is easy to move and he’s a top-50 player in NHL. Every team would be lining up for his services.
Trading Nylander would solve a cap-space issue, but they’d have to replace him with a similar right-winger in the top-six. Hmm, I wonder which superstar right-winger is set to become a free agent next summer?
Phil Kessel!
There you have it! Trade Nylander and his $6.9M cap-hit for draft picks and prospects and use that money to re-sign Kessel to a two-year deal at $4M per season. Kessel would score 40 goals beside Tavares and he’d finally help the Leafs lift a Stanley Cup for the first time in over 50 years.
Clearly, I’m joking.
As much fun as that idea is, the Leafs are not trading any of their core-four anytime soon. No matter how many times this team loses in the playoffs, they’re going to continue to run it back until the core is no longer under contract.
I know that’s hard to hear and tough to comprehend for some fans, but enjoy the good and bad times with these players. We’re currently watching four of the greatest Toronto Maple Leafs in the team’s 100-plus history.