Treliving finally reveals the real reason why he didn't break up the Leafs' core

When the Leafs were eliminated by Florida in 5 games in the second round this past season, almost everyone was calling for a major shakeup and a move involving a member of the "Core 4". When former GM Kyle Dubas spoke to the media a few days after the end of the Leafs' season, it sounded like he was willing to make that type of change. Unfortunately, we will never know if that change was going to happen or not as Dubas was fired by the Leafs on May 17th, and shortly thereafter, Brad Treliving was named as his replacement.

At the time of Treliving being named GM, President of Hockey Ops, Brendan Shanahan, had disclosed that he wanted to bring the likes of William Nylander, John Tavares, Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews back for another kick of the can, so to speak. While Treliving made no such promise, he focused on re-signing Matthews, which eventually happened, and Nylander, which is on-going, opting to simply change the group around the current core.

In a recent sit-down with The Athletic's Jonas Siegel, Treliving was asked whether or not he thought of changing the core and explained why he chose not to.

As much as Leaf fans called for change, Treliving has taken a very methodical approach to changing the dynamic of the team since he arrived. He met with each of the "Core 4", among other players and personnel, to get to know them and so that they could get to know him and learn what his vision for the team was and is. He has changed a number of players around the core and will be able to change even more next season if things don't work out this time around as the Leafs have 9 players that will be UFAs at the end of the season.

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