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Toronto Maple Leafs: Why You Don’t Trade Your Best Players

By David Corcoran

TORONTO, ONTARIO - AUGUST 07: John Tavares #91 of the Toronto Maple Leafs celebrates his third period goal at 16:54 with Morgan Rielly #44, William Nylander #88, Auston Matthews #34, Zach Hyman #11 amd Mitchell Marner #16 against the Columbus Blue Jackets in Game Four of the Eastern Conference Qualification Round prior to the 2020 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena on August 07, 2020 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Andre Ringuette/Freestyle Photo/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ONTARIO - AUGUST 07: John Tavares #91 of the Toronto Maple Leafs celebrates his third period goal at 16:54 with Morgan Rielly #44, William Nylander #88, Auston Matthews #34, Zach Hyman #11 amd Mitchell Marner #16 against the Columbus Blue Jackets in Game Four of the Eastern Conference Qualification Round prior to the 2020 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena on August 07, 2020 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Andre Ringuette/Freestyle Photo/Getty Images) /
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The Toronto Maple Leafs off-season has begun and many have speculated the Core Four will be no more.

Both Auston Matthews and William Nylander enter the final year of their contracts before becoming Unrestricted Free Agents, while Mitch Marner and John Tavares have two years remaining on their contracts with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The question is should the Leafs move one of their best players? And if so, who should be the one that is traded, with many speculating Mitch Marner to be the player to be moved.

The correct answer is, none of the core four should be traded with the caveat as long as both Nylander and Matthews are able to lock down to extensions.

Toronto Maple Leafs: 40-goal Scorer

Nylander is coming off a career season where he became a 40-goal scorer for the first time and also recorded more than a point per game for the first time.

He just turned 27-years old and while he does have stretches where he disappears, when he is moving his feet and handling the play he is almost impossible to get the puck from.

Out of those Core Four names, Nylander appears to handle the media the best; due to his calm and easy-going attitude nothing appears to phase him.

While the Toronto Maple Leafs have not had much playoff success, Nylander has been one of their best performers during this time of year.  Over the three previous playoffs, the Swedish Calgarian has collected 25 points in 25 games including 12 goals.

Nylander’s cap hit is just $6.96 Million going into next season and if you can get him signed long-term, I don’t know how you can trade this player.

A comparable extension for Nylander is what Mika Zibanejad signed two seasons ago at eight years for $68 Million ($8.5 cap hit).

When Zibanejad signed that deal, it was worth 10.43% of the cap hit, which would mean Nylander would be in around the $8.7M cap hit on an eight-year deal.

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