The Toronto Maple Leafs and Edmonton Oilers lead Adam Proteau's list, but the Vancouver Canucks, Colorado Avalanche and Tampa Bay Lightning make a strong case.

In the salary cap era, NHL teams often are limited to building around a core of four players. 

That brings to mind the question – which teams have the best “core four”? 

Here are the five teams we like the best in that regard (and a quick note – we’re only focusing on skaters in this list; goalies are a different beast altogether):

Toronto Maple Leafs

The Maple Leafs were a mess for many years in the early 2010s, but they managed to pick up three star forwards in Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander. They then solidified their “top four” with the free-agent signing of John Tavares. That has given them arguably the best top two lines in the NHL, and the combination of the four is now at its peak with the evolution of Matthews, Marner and Nylander. 

Some teams would be thrilled to employ just one of those four, but the Buds are fortunate to have the deepest wellspring of top talent in the game.

Edmonton Oilers

The Oilers have the NHL’s best all-around talent in Connor McDavid, but their core four are just about as impressive as Toronto’s. McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins are as dangerous a group as it gets, especially since Hyman has raised his game and been one of the NHL's premier power forwards. 

Offense will never be an issue with this quartet, and they’re looking primed to do some serious damage in the Stanley Cup playoffs this season. Betting against them is not a wise thing to do.

Vancouver Canucks

As the NHL’s top-ranked team currently, the Canucks have much to be thankful for. Their core four of forwards Elias Pettersson, J.T. Miller and Brock Boeser, and elite defenseman Quinn Hughes are the primary reasons for Vancouver’s success this year. 

They may not have a player in the top five of the NHL as an individual, but their balance of skill, youth and experience is paying off in spades. The Canucks have excellent depth beyond those four stars, but make no mistake – Pettersson, Hughes, Miller and Boeser are extremely dangerous and an elite group to build around.

Colorado Avalanche

In Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Mikko Rantanen and Devon Toews, the Avalanche have some of the NHL’s most potent performers. Their balance of stars at forward and on defense gives them a leg up on some other teams we considered for this story, and all four of the Avs’ top players are either approaching their prime or are in their prime. 

Their puck possession talents are a key reason they’re a perennial contender in the Central Division and the Western Conference. The present and near future for this franchise are extremely bright. Avalanche boss Joe Sakic has proven to be as excellent an executive as he was as a player, and Colorado’s core four are his greatest achievement as an architect.

Tampa Bay Lightning

The Lightning are starting to show the wear-and-tear that comes with being a multi-time Cup-winning organization, but their core four of forwards Steven Stamkos, Brayden Point, Nikita Kucherov and Victor Hedman remain elite competitors. The only reason the Bolts are currently hanging on to a wild-card berth right now is the contributions made by their best four skaters. 

Tampa’s window to win is beginning to close, but so long as Kucherov, Stamkos, Hedman and Point are doing their part, the Lightning have a chance to be competitive every night.