Montreal's young core is putting rival Maple Leafs to shame.

We all remember a time when the Toronto Maple Leafs and their fan base were over the moon with the 3 young superstars on their roster, a trio of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander. So over the moon in fact that a certain magazine once famously asked not if, but how many, Stanley Cups this trio of players would acquire before it was all said and done.

The answer was of course 0.

It's not just that the Core 3, and eventually the Core 4 alongside John Tavares, would completely fail to find any meaningful success in the Stanley Cup playoffs that leaves fans with a bitter taste in their mouths but also how it all transpired. Throughout it all there was constant drama featuring contract holdouts from both Nylander and Marner and even apparent bickering between the core when Marner's agent publicly bashed Auston Matthews for signing a lucrative new contract.

Now that same pattern is playing out again but this time for one of Toronto's biggest rivals, the Montreal Canadiens, and it's hard not to notice the contrast in how Montreal's players have conducted themselves in recent contract negotiations. We've heard very little drama behind the scenes in those negotiations and the Habs have walked away with much of their core signed to very team-friendly deals.... and it's not a coincidence.

In recent weeks some of those players have began to speak publicly about their recent contracts and to suggest they are putting the Maple Leafs Core 4 to shame may be an understatement. It was first overall pick Juraj Slafkovsky who got things started when he made it clear he left money on the table in the hopes of becoming a champion.

"It’s not really about the money for anyone there" said Slafkovsky as per The Montreal Gazette. "We all have the same goal on that team. Nobody really cares about the money at this point. I mean, all those contracts that the guys have, or even I personally have, it’s already made our lives easier enough. Nobody really needs more than that. We’d rather focus on collecting those (Stanley Cup) rings, because that’s a much bigger number, and I don’t think any amount of money can top that."

It's all well and good when one player wants to lead by example, but that does not appear to be the case here. Instead it sounds much more like the collective inside of that locker room has come together and decided that they all want to work towards a unified goal. Ivan Demidov is another Canadiens player who recently signed a very team-friendly contract, much to the chagrin of his agent Dan Milstein.

"If I had it my way, the deal probably would have looked a little different," admitted Milstein as per The Gazette. "Ivan basically said he wanted the eight-year deal. He wanted it done quickly and wanted to leave room (financially) for Montreal to get even better."

"His exact words were, 'We’re in a great situation. I feel like we’re going to be winning for many years.' He wanted to leave money on the table so they can sign other players."

After a number of these decisions from all of Montreal's top young stars the future now looks incredibly bright for that organization and it's hard not to notice the contrast with the Maple Leafs. Instead of winning multiple Stanley Cups with their core, the Maple Leafs have instead spent much of the season, and even this summer, dealing with the ongoing fallout of Mitch Marner's departure all season long.