Toronto Maple Leafs Should Never Break Up Core-Four

Regardless of what happens in the playoffs, the Toronto Maple Leafs should not break up their core-four of forwards.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are one of the best teams in hockey. I know that doesn’t guarantee playoff success, but this team has a legitimate shot at winning the Stanley Cup this year.

If you’re a hater, you’re never going to think that’s true, but you better believe it.

Speaking of the hater’s, if the Leafs don’t win the Stanley Cup this year, many people are going to want a shake-up with the team’s core-four players. Any fan (or manager) would be crazy to want to trade Auston Matthews, but one of Mitch Marner, William Nylander or John Tavares is going to be on the chopping block, according to Joe from Woodbridge.

Winning in professional sports is hard.

However, winning in the NHL is the hardest thing to do in all of sports. Your best forwards are on the ice for no more than 35 percent of the game. For 65 percent of the entire game, every single night, every team doesn’t have their best player.

That’s insane compared to every other sport (besides baseball) where your best players play a much larger portion of the game.

It’s the reason why goaltending in the playoffs is hands-down the most important thing. If your goaltender gives you a 2.00 GAA and a .940 SV %, you’re more than likely going to win. However, if he stinks, then you have a zero percent chance at winning.

You can technically have the best team but you won’t win because a goal that shouldn’t have gone in, goes in the back of the net.

The Toronto Maple Leafs Should Never Get Rid of Core-Four

The Toronto Maple Leafs currently have four elite forwards on their roster, which is something a lot of teams can’t say. They also have the best goal-scorer in the league and one of the best visionaries in the NHL as well, which makes them a force to reckon with every night.

If you play the lottery once, you’re probably not going to win. However, if you keep buying tickets on a weekly basis, it’s going to increase your chance at finally hitting the jack-pot.

The same thing applies to the NHL and the playoffs.

If your team gets hot one year and goes to the Stanley Cup Finals, that’s great, but what does that accomplish if you’re a one-hit wonder. Sorry, Montreal Canadiens fans, but your team isn’t any good. You got lucky for one playoff run and that’s not going to happen for another 20 years.

You’d much rather be in the Leafs shoes, where they make the playoffs every single year and give themselves a chance.

For the sixth straight year (let’s count the ‘play-in’ year), the Leafs are going to the playoffs. Sure, it hasn’t worked out for the past five seasons, but maybe the sixth time is the charm? It took Mario Lemieux seven years to win a Stanley Cup and it took Alex Ovechkin 13 years.

We look at Tampa Bay as this power-house team that wins every single year, but that wasn’t the case for the first 12 years of Steven Stamkos’ career. They had a little playoff success but it took more than a decade for them to finally win hockey’s ultimate prize.

Did they blow everything up?

Of course not. They stuck to the plan and it eventually paid off.

It’s possible that Toronto’s core-four will never win them a Stanley Cup, but how much better can you do than having those four players on your roster? These are four of the most talented players in Leafs history, so why would you give up on them now, when Matthews, Marner and Nylander haven’t hit their prime?

I know the playoffs haven’t even started, but the Toronto fanbase needs to be trust this core for the long-haul. It may not happen this year, or the year after, but sooner than later, a roster that is filled with this much talent is going to breakthrough and win a few playoff rounds.