Quoting: Saskleaf
I’m going to lose it if Mitch Marner is a member of this team by next season. Year after year we have to put up with him turning invisible in the playoffs every year. It’s such a joke. Nobody is taking John Tavares but if you can find anyone to take on that useless hunk of junk trade him. And frankly I want us to start looking at Matthews trades. 69 goals in the regular season and only 1 in 5 playoff games. I don’t care what he was dealing with, it’s been the same crap year after year.
It's not that this team would be better without Marner, it's that this team would be better if we didn't adopt that braindead "core 4" philosophy. When has a hockey team ever won off of the back of 4 players? If that's how it worked, Thornton and Marleau and Pavelski would have Cups.
Marner is the only member of the core 4 that can even be entertained in trade discussions. Nylander is locked up and a clutch player. Matthews is the franchise. Tavares is a dinosaur making 11mil. Marner is a good player who is a pending UFA with a full NMC. The fact that is our only tradeable asset out of the 4 shows how dire our situation is.
I know thay some fans fear that the Leafs will be too scared of getting fleeced and will just wind up committing to Marner long term. That wouldnt be the worst thing, but it makes next year rough. Marner is my favourite Leaf, but if he gets re-signed then next season is going to be tough to navigate. Not impossible to navigate, but so many domino's have to fall into place. If they don't move him, then it's a wash next year. Gotta wait until JT expires to even have a shred of hope for competing. Need to draft a 2C in the first round this year.
I dont think the Leafs need to trade Marner, but its definitely an avenue worth exploring if the value presents itself. Making a move for the sake of making a move when the oldest member of the core 4 is only one season away from expiring would set us so far back. I really doubt we see anything happen on that front.