Maple Leafs Core 4 Players 'Excites' New GM Brad Treliving, 'Will Look At All Things' In Building Roster
After an early second-round playoff exit, will the Toronto Maple Leafs shake up their core? New GM Brad Treliving is now tasked with figuring out how to best build a lineup for the postseason.
When the Toronto Maple Leafs bowed out of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs, questions about the club's core four players immediately boiled to the surface.
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Can they win with a group of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares and William Nylander or is this finally the year where one of the four is moved to improve the club in other areas?
That's a decision for new general Brad Treliving, who was introduced in a news conference with the media on Thursday.
In addition to identifying Auston Matthews as a priority and deciding what to do with Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe, Treliving was asked about the team's core group of players.
"Having those players excites me. They're world-class players. We're going to review everything," Treliving said.
Matthews and Nylander are eligible for a contract extension as soon as July 1. Matthews and Marner both have no-move clauses that kick in on the same date. Tavares, who has two years remaining on his deal, has a no-move clause and is unlikely to entertain any deal that would see him not play in Toronto.
While a move away from the core would certainly be quite the way for Treliving to start his tenure, he was careful in his messaging about how he would deal with Toronto's talent.
"I want to stress strongly I'm not about coming in and making a statement. You can throw a body under the tarmac and it might look good in a headline but are you getting any better?" Treliving said. "It's about getting better. Just being different doesn't necessarily make you better. My job is to protect them."
Treliving acknowledged the difficulty of acquiring talented players but shifted his messaging to what's best for the team and not necessarily those for players.
"This can't be about the core 4. This is about the Leafs,." he explained. "Whatever challenges we have isn't about one guy or four guys, it's about the group. For a manager coming in, I'm pretty lucky to have the talent that those four represent as well. We will look at all things."
Treliving inherits a team that has 10 unrestricted free agents and two restricted free agents. That includes goaltender Ilya Samsonov, who had a standout season with Toronto and is due for a raise. With just over $9 million in salary cap space, some moves could take place. That number can go up if Jake Muzzin and his $5.625 million cap hit is placed on long-term injured reserve again this season. Toronto also has to find a way to shed goaltender Matt Murray's $4.875 million cap hit for 2023-24. He could be a potential buy-out candidate. The window for that opens on June 15 or 48 hours after the Stanley Cup is awarded, whichever is later.
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