Last ride for Leafs' core 4: Same as it ever was?

The Toronto Maple Leafs can't quit their core.

When the Boston Bruins sent them home with a Game 7 overtime loss for yet another first-round playoff defeat, there were countless calls for the front office to finally blow it up. Trade scenarios - most of them involving Mitch Marner - were imagined and debated, all intended to change a top-heavy roster, rich in star forwards, that's been defined by playoff underperformance for six seasons.

And yet, when the Leafs arrive at Scotiabank Arena for their home opener on Saturday night, the four big-dollar forwards - Marner, Auston Matthews, William Nylander and John Tavares - will still be there.

Does transferring the captaincy from Tavares to Matthews count as blowing it up?

In truth, this was always the likely outcome for the start of the 2024-25 season. Marner, in the last year of his contract, has a no-trade clause and no incentive to give up the freedom and leverage that free agency will provide.

No matter how much speculation swirled about whether he'd welcome a fresh start somewhere else or whether general manager Brad Treliving could somehow coerce him into accepting a move - "your new linemates are Ryan Reaves and Pontus Holmberg!" - it made sense for Marner to simply honor the terms of his contract. And so he has.

The Leafs are now a case study in the Road Not Taken. While there was patience after this core's early playoff struggle, calls for significant changes began after embarrassing postseason losses to Columbus and Montreal, and they've now basically become a rite of Toronto's spring.

The last, best chance to make some kind of franchise-altering trade came after the collapse against Florida in 2023. But, following the departure of former general manager Kyle Dubas, the newly-appointed Treliving was disinclined to make significant changes as his first order of business. Then the no-trade clauses kicked in, and that was that.

And so, even with the wide acknowledgment that something in the roster mix just hasn't worked in the playoffs, when the Leafs can't seem to get the big goal or big save when it's needed most, they're once again trying with a team that looks very much like the teams of the recent past.

But it might just work. Such are the vagaries of playoff hockey: A team with a well-established reputation for spring failure could, with a friendly bounce here and a fortunate post there, find itself winning a series it otherwise would have lost. If nothing else, it would be funny to watch everyone try to recast six years of narratives about essentially the same group of players.

Of course, some changes have been made. Craig Berube arrives with the credit naturally given to a Stanley Cup-winning head coach - even if that didn't seem to help when it was Mike Babcock behind Toronto's bench. The additions of Chris Tanev and Oliver Ekman-Larsson have bolstered the blue line. They're a clear upgrade from John Klingberg, who was acquired in 2023, played 14 games with the Leafs, had the worst plus-minus on the team, and then disappeared into the LTIR void.

In net, the uncertainty provided by Ilya Samsonov and Matt Murray in recent seasons has been replaced by the uncertainty provided by Joseph Woll and incoming veteran backup Anthony Stolarz. Woll, the presumptive No. 1 who almost rescued the Leafs in the playoffs last season before missing Game 7 with an injury, didn't make it to opening night before landing on the medical report.

Nothing about Toronto's goaltending situation screams proven reliability, but the hockey net is one of the most unpredictable positions in sports. Could Woll or Stolarz end up backstopping a Leafs playoff run that lasts beyond the first few days of May? Strange stuff with goalies has happened before. Edmonton Oilers fans were ready to run Stuart Skinner out of town, and then he guided them to within one win of the Cup.

But the changes in Toronto all feel secondary to what hasn't changed. If the Maple Leafs are going to do what very similar versions of the team have so far been unable to do, it'll be because Matthews, Nylander, and even Marner finally manage some kind of collective postseason run. That they haven't done it yet remains somewhat inexplicable, but the streak of disappointments is now so long that Treliving almost certainly would have shaken it up if he could.

But he couldn't, so here we are. Team Run It Back has become Team Last Ride. Is it April yet?

Scott Stinson is a contributing writer for theScore.