Elliotte Friedman reveals the future of the Maple Leafs' core four
The insider Elliotte Friedman revealed what's coming for the Toronto Maple Leafs' core four if they get eliminated by the Boston Bruins in game five.
As you probably saw since the Leafs' playoff journey started, the core four's impact has been quite underwhelming.
While William Nylander has been missing the first three games, and Auston Matthews has been dealing with an illness, it's harder to find excuses for both John Tavares and William Nylander.
Both of them showed only flashes of what they usually bring to the table, and received a lot of criticism; especially Marner.
The Toronto Sun even went as far as calling him "Invisible":
In the fourth game of the series, things boiled over between Marner, Nylander and Matthews in a heated exchange at the bench. They all seemed visibly frustrated about their performances. Nylander went as far as telling Marner to "stop f***ing crying":
In a massive declaration Elliotte Friedman stated that he believes the core four is done in Toronto, unless they can come back in the series to eliminate the Bruins in seven games, just like the Florida Panthers did last season.
Here's what he said:
General Manager Brad Treliving will have a lot on his plate, and many things will change in Toronto if they get eliminated by the Bruins in the coming days.
Grab your popcorn, folks, and sit down, the show's about to go down.
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 29 | 411 ANSWERS Elliotte Friedman reveals the future of the Maple Leafs' core four Do you think the Toronto Maple Leafs' core four will be back as it is next season if the Leafs get eliminated by the Boston Bruins? | ||
| Yes | 73 | 17.8 % |
| No | 338 | 82.2 % |
| LIST OF POLLS | ||
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Sean Monahan | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Zachary Werenski | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Nikita Kucherov | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Jesper Bratt | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Mitchell Chaffee | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Anthony Cirelli | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Brandon Hagel | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Dmitry Voronkov | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Ivan Barbashev | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Jack Hughes | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Kirill Marchenko | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Cam Atkinson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Yegor Chinakhov | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Pierre-Luc Dubois | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jack Eichel | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Simon Holmstom | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Brett Howden | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Kent Johnson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Elias Lindholm | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Stefan Noesen | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 19 | 16 | 3 | - | 32 | |
Hurricanes | 18 | 14 | 4 | - | 28 | |
Capitals | 18 | 13 | 4 | 1 | 27 | |
Wild | 18 | 12 | 3 | 3 | 27 | |
Maple Leafs | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Devils | 21 | 12 | 7 | 2 | 26 | |
Rangers | 17 | 12 | 4 | 1 | 25 | |
Panthers | 19 | 12 | 6 | 1 | 25 | |
Stars | 18 | 12 | 6 | - | 24 | |
Golden Knights | 19 | 11 | 6 | 2 | 24 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||