I'm sorry to break it to you, but the Toronto Maple Leafs are not trading Mitch Marner.
As much as we'd all love to play fantasy GM, even the dumbest manager out there isn't trading Mitch Marner away from the Toronto Maple Leafs. Not only that, but Marner still holds the cards when it comes to a deal and he doesn't have any intentions on leaving this city.
It was only two short years ago where every Leafs fan was declaring Marner and Auston Matthews as two of the top-five players in team history, yet after a few playoff mishaps, they're all of a sudden terrible? I have been incredibly vocal about the idea of trading Marner, and truly thought that was the answer at one point, but it's not going to happen.
How in the world are you going to win a Marner trade? Who are you going to get in-return to match his skillset and make this team better? Maybe change is all that matters in order to make this roster better but would you rather start the season with or without Marner?
Mitch Marner Is Not Getting Traded This Year
If Marner leaves, the team's depth all of a sudden gets much worse and so does their penalty-kill, so his departure won't work during a trade. The only way that Marner is no longer a member of this organization is if he decides to leave next year during free agency, which probably will happen.
However, the Toronto Maple Leafs aren't going to trade him, because if they wanted to move him, it already would have happened by now. The best time of the season to make a splash is during the NHL Draft, because you can use those assets, while also having money available prior to free agency, but now that free agency has passed, there really isn't a move that makes sense.
Marner was originally rumored to be moved for a defenseman, but the Leafs defense is actually pretty decent right now. The one spot that they're missing is in their bottom-six, but are you really going to trade a first-line winger for bottom-six depth? Absolutely, not.
The way they're going to get bottom-six depth is by trading prospects and draft picks, so they don't have to move someone like Marner to imporve that. Instead, they can keep Marner and ride this thing out one more year.
It's crazy to think that this is Year 7 of John Tavares and the Leafs have only won one playoff round, but maybe the issue is with him and not with Marner. Tavares only won one playof round with the New York Islanders and they made it to two Conference Finals after his departure, so maybe with his exit, the Leafs will be better, but who knows.
All I know is that if you think Mitch Marner is playing anywhere other than Toronto next year, you're crazy.