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4 Players the Toronto Maple Leafs Could Trade Mitch Marner For

By Oliver Smith

TORONTO, ON - MAY 27: Shea Weber #6 of the Montreal Canadiens covers Mitchell Marner #16 of the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game Five of the First Round of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena on May 27, 2021 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - MAY 27: Shea Weber #6 of the Montreal Canadiens covers Mitchell Marner #16 of the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game Five of the First Round of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena on May 27, 2021 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images) /
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WASHINGTON, DC – MAY 15: Tom Wilson #43 of the Washington Capitals . (Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC – MAY 15: Tom Wilson #43 of the Washington Capitals . (Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images) /

A Tom Wilson Homecoming

If the Maple Leafs want to keep a home town flavour to their team there is no better player than Tom Wilson. A North Toronto boy born and raised, he still has a home here, he went to high-school here and his family is still in Toronto.

Wilson is also the perfect blend of brutally physical with scoring hands that Toronto lacks; when Dubas went out to get grit and physicality up front, he got Wayne Simmonds who no longer has the same scoring touch.

Wilson has won a cup with the Capitals and with Alexander Ovechkin now 35, Washington’s window is closing whereas Toronto is smack in the middle of theirs.

Playing into Toronto’s favour is Washington’s aging team with TJ Oshie, 34, and Carl Hagelin, 32, both declining. This season Marner scored 14 more points that the Caps top point getter; last season, in just 59 games Marner (67 pts) tied with Ovechkin in 9 fewer games and outscored both Oshie (49) and Hagelin (25).

However, Washington has no cap space and everything points towards Ovechkin signing for a few more years. Washington needs better and younger point production as they can’t rely on No. 8 for much longer but even with a massive hometown discount for No. 8, adding a $10.9 million piece is a hard deal.

Plus Washington would loathe to lose a player like Wilson, whose contract runs until 2024 anyway.

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