The Leafs should keep Core Four amid an aging Atlantic Division

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As new Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving decides what's next for his team, he’ll have this to consider: The Atlantic Division is probably the toughest in hockey.

It has sent the Eastern Conference representative to the Stanley Cup final every year since 2019: Boston, Tampa, Tampa, Tampa, Florida.

(In one of those years, the weird COVID-shortened realigned 2020-21 season, it actually sent two, with a Montreal-Tampa final.)

It's a tough division to get out of.

But is it changing? It's worth considering that two playoff-hardened teams — Boston and Tampa — may be reaching their best-before date. For the Bruins, there's no guarantee that 37-year-old Patrice Bergeron or 37-year-old David Krejci are coming back. They were both top five in Boston scoring. The Bruins are in danger — like the Penguins — of aging out of true contention.

Over in Tampa, it's the salary cap that offers GM Julien Brisebois his biggest challenge. They have under $7 million in space, with two restricted free agents and five unrestricted, including Alex Killorn. In addition, Steve Stamkos is eligible to sign an extension this summer. They might not be able to squeeze the right support pieces around their aging core.

Meanwhile, if any of Buffalo, Detroit or Ottawa made a surge into a playoff spot or two, that would surprise precisely no one.

Imagine what that would do to the playoffs. It would be the Leafs and Panthers — whose cores are only in their mid-20s — who would be the playoff hardened teams, and, say Buffalo and Detroit in the happy-to-be-there mode and not knowing what will await them in the first round.

This would change the playoff dynamic a great deal.

It's another argument to keep the Leafs core together. They’ll have no problem reaching the playoffs. They’ll probably face a new opponent with no playoff experience. Maybe two. The path out of the division would be — different for sure. Easier, quite possibly.

If you have a question, email me at [email protected] and I’ll answer it in the next Mailbag. Now to the Seven Playoff Musings.

1. Mike Babcock in Columbus. Kyle Dubas in Pittsburgh. This off-season is developing all kinds of new, intriguing Eastern Conference rivalries for the Maple Leafs next season.

2. A seven-year deal for Dubas makes sense. It gives him the time he needs to see the end of the Sidney Crosby era and build for what comes next. Can't imagine him trading draft picks at the deadline. It’ll be on Crosby and Co. to make or miss the playoffs.

3. The Penguins might need a goalie. Wouldn't it be delicious if Dubas asked for Matt Murray? And a sweetener, like the Leafs retaining salary?

4. An extension for Keefe makes a lot of sense but ultimately means little. It makes sense from the point of view that it takes a narrative off the table — that he's a lame-duck coach. But Treliving could still fire Keefe if he wanted to make a change. The Leafs after all, paid Babcock for four years not to coach. We all know this, but optics of an extension is simply good PR. And probably would also play well with the team's coaching, training, physiotherapy staff and beyond.

5. Jack Eichel has yet to lose a playoff round.

6. Since the turn of the century, only seven first-overall draft picks have won the Stanley Cup (Marc-Andre Fleury, Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, Erik Johnson, Patrick Kane, Stamkos, Nathan MacKinnon). Aaron Ekblad has a chance to make it eight. All except Johnson won with the team that drafted them.

7. Adin Hill has move up the list of Conn Smythe nominees. Like, who is he even? Vegas is certainly making the case (as the Detroit and Chicago did in their most recent Cup championships) that no-name goaltending can win, too.

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