Should the Toronto Maple Leafs Trade Mitch Marner to Utah?
Toronto Maple Leafs are looking at everything when it comes to shaking up the roster this offseason, according to President of Hockey Operations, Brendan Shanahan. Could General Manager Brad Treliving look to make his biggest splash as Maple Leafs GM with the newest team in the NHL, Utah.
Just over a week ago, the Toronto Maple Leafs held a press conference at which General Manager Brad Treliving, President of Hockey Operations Brendan Shanahan, and CEO of Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment (MLSE), Keith Pelley addressed the media following another disapointing playoff performance.
At the press conference, Shanahan said that they will look at everything this summer and consider any changes that will make the Toronto Maple Leafs a better team.
Fans are calling for chances to the Core Four after once again disapointing in the playoffs. And even though they were all going through various injuries (or in Tavares case, deployed in an extreme defensive way) the collected fanbase and media is choosing to completely ignore any contributing factors.
The consensus is: change is needed.
Who Should the Toronto Maple Leafs Move?
It's hard to think of the Toronto Maple Leafs not having one of Auston Matthews, William Nylander, Mitch Marner or John Tavares by the start of next season.
Auston Matthews and William Nylander signed extensions that will kick in on July 1st and they both have full no-move clause (NMC). On top of that Auston Matthews is arguably a top three player in the league, when he is healthy and William Nylander has been the Maple Leafs best playoff performer in the last many years.
Safe to say both will be around next season.
John Tavares is the captain of the team and is in the back nine of his career at 33 years old. He continues to get slower every year but is still amongst the best 2nd line centres in the league.
Tavares also has a full NMC and has started a family in the city he grew up in. Hard to see the team trading him or him waiving his NMC, even if Treliving found a deal.
Which leaves us with Mitch Marner. Marner has been on pace for 100 points in each of the last four seasons and provided elite defense while doing so.
Trading him is almost certainly a bad idea, but at the very least, it's worth exploring.
Marner to Utah?
Utah has been in the league for just about a month now after relocating from Arizona.
With the likes of Clayton Keller, Lawson Crouse, Sean Durzi, and Connor Ingram, they have a lot of enticing pieces that Toronto could acquire in a Mitch Marner deal.
The number one target would be Clayton Keller. Born in Arizona, Keller was drafted to the Arizona Coyotes in 2016, the same draft as Auston Matthews.
Both Matthews and Keller grew up in Arizona and played on the U18 US development program together in 2015.
An all Arizona line of Clayton Keller, Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies would be the first of it's kind and would also dominate their opponents offensively.
Keller is a skilled winger with both elite playmaking and finishing ability. He has been a point per game player the last three seasons and is defiantly Utah's best player.
He is not as gifted as Mitch Marner but he is signed at a very fair $7.15M for the next four seasons.
Marner would single handedly make Utah a potential playoff team in their first season and Keller is a highly skilled, first line left winger, at a lower cap hit, under team control for four more years.
The move frees up $3.78M in cap space for Toronto, which can be used to help acquire a defenseman in free agency. Although it should at least be mentioned that the Leafs don't really need the cap space, and even if they could re-allocate Marner's money, it would be next to impossible to get better value than they are getting from Marner himself.
Still, Keller for Marner, while a huge loss, seems to be about the best the Leafs could do under the circumstances.
Potential Leafs and Coyotes Trade
IF the Coyotes aren't interested in trading Keller, the Maple Leafs could also look for multiple pieces from Utah.
Ilya Samsonov is gone for sure, and the Leafs need a new goalie.
The Leafs could target Connor Ingram, who had a .907 SV% and 2.91 GAA in 50 games this season. He has a two seasons left on his contract at $1.95M. Combine that with Joseph Woll's sub $800k contract and below $3M for an above average goalie tandem would be tidy work by GM Treliving.
But Ingram for Marner is no where close to a fair one for one. Utah would have to add more for the Maple Leafs to even entertain a deal.
Toronto had one of the worst puck moving bluelines in the league this year and will need to fix that.
Sean Durzi is a name that comes to mind when looking at Utah. He is a pending RFA which means the Leafs would have to sign him to a contract.
Durzi, originally drafted by the Maple Leafs, was the number one defenseman for the Coyotes this past season.
He would compliment Jake McCabe well on Toronto's second pair and could takeover as quarterback of the Maple Leafs first powerplay unit.
Marner for Ingram and Durzi could be the foundation of a deal, but this exercise quickly shows how bad of an idea trading Marner is. Even if the Coyotes included their top prospect and a first round pick, this trade is a massive loss for the Leafs.
Toronto would be acquiring a C-Level starting goalie and an OK top 4 puck moving defenseman, while also acquring cap space which they could use in free agency.
And this is a best-case scenario, because, assuming Marner would waive his no-trade clause, who are the Coyotes bidding against? They would have no reason to pay market value for a player this good.
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Marner's time in Toronto may have expired but if the Leafs trade him, they need to be prepared to lose any trade they make.