But was it Dubas or Shanny who wanted to protect this precious core (I'm thinking back to beginning of regular season when Keefe basically blasted the core players after a brutal game, then had to totally backtrack the next day on what he had said)? I'm thinking that may have come directly from Shanny and MLSE. If that's the case, having a new GM and coach will not change anything. Really hope I'm wrong!
But it always comes back to this: can you do these things while basically paying half the cap to 4 forwards? It hasn't worked for the past 5 years.
The problem might have been that they did listen to the coach.
What a bunch of politically correct corporate-speak. Colloquially known as bullshit.NHL Rumour Roundup: What does future hold for Briere's Flyers, Maple Leafs' Core Four?
In our latest NHL Rumour Roundup, we look at what's next for Flyers new GM Daniel Briere, if a rebrand could be on the way for the Maple Leafs' Core Four, the latest on the off-season goalie market and much more.www.sportsnet.ca
The future of Toronto’s Core Four: Retool, or rebrand?
Even before the firing of Kyle Dubas and hiring of Brad Treliving in his place, this was always going to be a pivotal off-season in Toronto. Now, with a new GM in place to navigate the roster decisions, what’s in store for the team’s Core Four?
One idea, explained Friedman, is centred not so much around breaking up the group but seeking a new identity for the 19 other players around them. Here’s an excerpt of what he said:
“I had a very interesting phone call with someone about all this stuff, about who’s signing for what and everything and they said to me that they believe one of the things that came out of this season was that Toronto wanted to de-emphasize the core four,” explained Friedman.
“Not that the organization feels anything negative towards those players, but I think there was a feeling among just the entire group — other players on the team, some of the coaching staff, the front office of the organization — that there’s too much about them. Too much about the Core Four … they felt it interfered in the growth of the team. And one of the things I heard that was talked about was if you take a look at the third and fourth line over the last few years, there’s been a lot of turnover. And what someone indicated to me was, the feeling was that they haven’t done a good enough job as a group — like everybody — creating an identity for other players on the roster."
“And I want to stress, I don’t think this is about jealousy. But what I think it is about is if you’re gonna win, you’ve gotta win with 23 — not with four plus 19. I want people to be careful with this, not to use it to rip the four guys because I don’t think it’s that. I think it’s just that they have to get away from that and I believe some of the depth players may have talked about this, is that they feel it gets in the way of forming a team identity. And some of that you’re not gonna get away from because in the media we’re gonna talk about the Core Four, right? So you can’t escape it, but can you do a better job of creating an identity around some of the other players on the roster? And I heard that’s a big thing that they’re gonna try to work on.”
To me that speaks to moving away from versatile/vanilla plug and play types and more concrete roles.NHL Rumour Roundup: What does future hold for Briere's Flyers, Maple Leafs' Core Four?
In our latest NHL Rumour Roundup, we look at what's next for Flyers new GM Daniel Briere, if a rebrand could be on the way for the Maple Leafs' Core Four, the latest on the off-season goalie market and much more.
The future of Toronto’s Core Four: Retool, or rebrand?
Even before the firing of Kyle Dubas and hiring of Brad Treliving in his place, this was always going to be a pivotal off-season in Toronto. Now, with a new GM in place to navigate the roster decisions, what’s in store for the team’s Core Four?
One idea, explained Friedman, is centred not so much around breaking up the group but seeking a new identity for the 19 other players around them. Here’s an excerpt of what he said:
“I had a very interesting phone call with someone about all this stuff, about who’s signing for what and everything and they said to me that they believe one of the things that came out of this season was that Toronto wanted to de-emphasize the core four,” explained Friedman.
“Not that the organization feels anything negative towards those players, but I think there was a feeling among just the entire group — other players on the team, some of the coaching staff, the front office of the organization — that there’s too much about them. Too much about the Core Four … they felt it interfered in the growth of the team. And one of the things I heard that was talked about was if you take a look at the third and fourth line over the last few years, there’s been a lot of turnover. And what someone indicated to me was, the feeling was that they haven’t done a good enough job as a group — like everybody — creating an identity for other players on the roster."
“And I want to stress, I don’t think this is about jealousy. But what I think it is about is if you’re gonna win, you’ve gotta win with 23 — not with four plus 19. I want people to be careful with this, not to use it to rip the four guys because I don’t think it’s that. I think it’s just that they have to get away from that and I believe some of the depth players may have talked about this, is that they feel it gets in the way of forming a team identity. And some of that you’re not gonna get away from because in the media we’re gonna talk about the Core Four, right? So you can’t escape it, but can you do a better job of creating an identity around some of the other players on the roster? And I heard that’s a big thing that they’re gonna try to work on.”
I’m pretty sure that’s the case for some of them. I’m fully onboard with a new coach that holds them accountable.
VGK got 4 1/2 years of Eichel @ $10M a year.
Imo, the issue is that they have ever exhausted trade options. In fact, they've never even entertained it and it's reported that they won't once again this off-season
As I mentioned before, any trade that happens is likely to have an extension worked out. If the aquiring team works out an extension (which they likely would), then they are getting MORE of Matthews and Toronto is getting more cap savings.
That is all well and good and sounds nice, but when your 'core 4' are taking up almost half the cap space, you can't really focus on much other than them.NHL Rumour Roundup: What does future hold for Briere's Flyers, Maple Leafs' Core Four?
In our latest NHL Rumour Roundup, we look at what's next for Flyers new GM Daniel Briere, if a rebrand could be on the way for the Maple Leafs' Core Four, the latest on the off-season goalie market and much more.
The future of Toronto’s Core Four: Retool, or rebrand?
Even before the firing of Kyle Dubas and hiring of Brad Treliving in his place, this was always going to be a pivotal off-season in Toronto. Now, with a new GM in place to navigate the roster decisions, what’s in store for the team’s Core Four?
One idea, explained Friedman, is centred not so much around breaking up the group but seeking a new identity for the 19 other players around them. Here’s an excerpt of what he said:
“I had a very interesting phone call with someone about all this stuff, about who’s signing for what and everything and they said to me that they believe one of the things that came out of this season was that Toronto wanted to de-emphasize the core four,” explained Friedman.
Nice theory.
Didn't we have that with Babcock and everyone wanted him gone?
At that point we really didn’t understand how uncommitted this core was. Babs recognized what they are but Babs was a sneaky underhand knob. We need an honest hard nosed coach and a GM that is on the same page
Personally, I don't think it is fair to lump Willie or Reilly into core 4 or core 5 cap hit, bc both of their caphit is fine.
Exactly, but to do so you have to allow the other team enough time to put the extension together, so the return is maximized.
I started believing that near the end of year two, and still see it like that.
$10 million plus is fine, it's how much more the plus is that hurts. The star players will always be paid more, but how much more do they need? Are they also not getting endorsement deals? To me, it boils down to one thing, do they want to win, or do they want every last nickel they can get? If it's the latter, it's time to move on from them. I will take a team of players where they consistently leave it on the ice, compete every shift, stand up for each other, play for the emblem on the front of their sweater as opposed to the name on the back, over a team who rarely starts on time and more often than not seems disinterested during games, even in the playoffs! As long as they're doing that and showing improvement, I do not care if they make the playoffs, because that will eventually come!
