The Toronto Maple Leafs faced serious questions about their "Core Four" last off-season after another early playoff exit, but it's tough to part with any of their top forwards.

Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander and John Tavares have all been successful as individuals. But with Marner and Tavares in the final year of their contracts, questions arise about whether GM Brad Treliving should try to re-sign one or both players, and if so, for how much and how long.

Marner leafs the Leafs in scoring with 73 points in 57 games, 15 more points than second-place Nylander. He's on pace for his first 100-point season and is almost averaging an assist a game. Tavares has 49 points in 51 games, nearly a point-per-game pace that resembles all his seasons with the Leafs except for last year's 65 points in 80 games.

Tavares doesn't need to wait until the off-season to re-sign with Toronto, even saying he'd sign before the March 7 trade deadline.

"If we have the opportunity to get it done, I'd love to do that," Tavares told reporters on Feb. 25.

The regular season has never seemed to be the issue with the team, just the playoffs. So some may suggest Treliving not re-sign Marner or Tavares until the Leafs have either succeeded or failed in this spring’s Stanley Cup playoffs before tying up tens of millions of dollars in contracts for Tavares and Marner. That’s a fair perspective.

That said, this writer thinks it would be better to get Marner and Tavares’ signatures on contract extensions before the playoffs arrive – with one major caveat: not giving them any no-trade or no-move clauses. 

That’s the biggest problem with Toronto’s Core Four and team in general. Matthews and Nylander have full no-move clauses in their current deals, but it’s not unfair to draw a line in the sand and tell Marner and Tavares, “Look – we want you back, but we also want roster flexibility.” 

A partial-no-trade clause in their deal would at least allow the Maple Leafs to deal them elsewhere if they've seen enough of the Core Four but want a trade return instead of losing the duo for nothing in free agency. That would be a reasonable solution that sets a new standard for every Leafs player other than Matthews and Nylander. 

‘I Don’t Think He Thinks About It’: Maple Leafs’ John Tavares’ Demeanor Has Not Changed Amid Contract Uncertainty As the NHL trade deadline looms, speculation continues to circulate about the future of Toronto Maple Leafs forward John Tavares. The 34-year-old is a pending unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, and as of now, there’s little indication that a contract extension is imminent.

So long as Marner and Tavares aren’t unreasonable in their monetary expectations, Treliving should be re-signing them as soon as possible, even before the trade deadline. But if either one of them demands full no-movement or no-trade clauses, that should be enough for the Leafs to put the contract talks on pause until the off-season. At that point, if Tavares or Marner find a different team that wants to give them full no-trade clauses, the Buds should be prepared to walk away from them. The Leafs shouldn't get stuck after another playoff loss and have little they can do about it on the player front.

Toronto has been far too willing to throw at least partial no-trade clauses to players who are hardly superstars. Max Domi got one. David Kampf got one. Even Jani Hakanpaa got one.

Look at the defending Cup-champion Florida Panthers – they currently have six players with no-trade or no-move protection. The Leafs, on the other hand, have 12, according to PuckPedia. Something is wrong with this picture.

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Marner and Tavares have been excellent players this season – and really, for their entire time as Leafs. But there has to be an acknowledgement that roster flexibility is a must for Toronto moving forward. The only way you get that is by stopping the gravy train when it comes to no-trade and no-move clauses. 

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