Alek Manoah has the provisional hold on a spot in the rotation but when the next inevitable hiccups arrive, the Blue Jays are counting on his recent experience to better understand how to navigate it.

There was a few days span in mid-January when it seemed like a legitimate debate: should the Leafs even bother going “all in” yet again this season?

They had lost four of five games and the case to sell was growing. They appeared worse than previous iterations of the Leafs that had fallen short in the playoffs, and even those other teams were significantly improved at the deadline before the fell short. Sparse assets sit in Toronto’s cupboards after years of buying, and burning through what’s left would leave them all the more bare in the seasons ahead.

While some of that remains true — they are indeed a bit worse than they’ve been the past few years — the Leafs have also won five of their past seven, and their core is just too good to go quietly into that good night.

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So, a few thoughts on where the Leafs are at and where they’re going, just three weeks from trade deadline:

1. Kiss the Leafs’ 2024 first-round draft pick goodbye

It’s gone, as Nick Kypreos mentioned on our radio show Thursday. The core of this team is in its absolute prime and if they’re playing well all they really need is a goalie to get hot at the right time to have a chance in any series.

Yes, they rely too heavily on those core players. They score over 60 per cent of Toronto’s goals (most in the league from a top-four by a good margin) and play the bulk of the ice time. As you can see, only a couple