Don Cherry announces who the Maple Leafs should trade

The offseason is officially here for the Toronto Maple Leafs, who were felled by the upstart Florida Panthers in Round 2 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. It seems as though all of the good feelings over their having finally advanced past Round 1 for the first time since 2004 have dried up, while the real offseason work now begins on who stays and who goes. 

We've already seen speculation from fans and media with regard to Toronto's "Core 4" of John Tavares, Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, and William Nylander regarding their futures with the Maple Leafs. 

But if unfiltered former NHL coach and Hockey Night in Canada host Don Cherry has his way, all four players will be staying put if the Leafs are to have any success in the future. 

“I would never break them up. It doesn’t make any sense. You have to have a family. It has to feel like a family,” he said. “I would give them one more year. If it doesn’t work, then you can blow it up. But I would not do it now.” 

"I would bring them all back," Cherry then said of Toronto's Core 4 players. "You don't blow up team that had a 50- win, 111-point season. You just make sure you have a team that is ready to win in the playoffs because the regular season means nothing. You don’t give up on people at 26 years old. They are great hockey players. The Stanley Cup is hard to win.” 

Cherry also voiced his views that not only should general manager Kyle Dubas be retained, but head coach Sheldon Keefe as well. 

“People are upset, but it will settle down in a few weeks,” he said. “You don’t keep changing the coach and management. You just work on it for next season.”

However, Cherry said that there was one particular lineup change that Keefe should have considered, and that would be skating tough guy Wayne Simmonds in order to deliver a physical presence on the ice rather than rookie Matthew Knies.

“I like the kid and he scored a nice goal," he said. "But I would have played Simmonds.”