The Toronto Maple Leafs Latest Mitch Marner Rumour Is Another Loser

The Toronto Maple Leafs off-season is centered around Mitch Marner and his future.

I'll spare you the full re-cap of the situation, but the Toronto Maple Leafs / Mitch Marner Trade Talk has so far been completely ridiculous.

Elliotte Friedman appeared on the Morning Take Podcast this week and discussed how Marner could end up in Las Vegas.

Unfortunately, this is another terrible Idea.

The Toronto Maple Leafs Latest Mitch Marner Rumour Is Another Loser

The Leafs / Marner rumours so far have been underwhelming. The Leafs would be dealing from a position of weakness - Marner has only one year left on his contract and a full no-movement clause - and the trade rumours reflect that.

Marner is a player who has paced 100 points for the last four seasons and 90 points for the last six. He is an elite player who drives play and has been nominated for the Selke Trophy as the league's top defensive forward.

On top of that, he is just 28 and is a great penalty killer with the kind of versitility that is unseen in the NHL - besides wing, he has lined up at centre and even on the blue-line.

Only his playoff performance holds him back from being a top ten player in the NHL. The potential deals don't reflect that and the Leafs have to be really careful.

Elliotte Friedman mentioned that the Las Vegas Golden Knights could be interested in a package built around Shea Theodore.

As you can see from that chart, Shea Theodore is an awesome player. The reason I wouldn't make this trade is that he has played the best years of his career behind Alex Pietrangelo.

Alex Pietrangelo is one of, if not the best defenseman of his generation. When Theordore hits the ice, as a second pairing guy, he doesn't have to any of the heavy lifting and he gets to look great.

That isn't to say he isn't one of the NHL's best defenders - his results say he is. But you have to consider his deployment and I just don't think he's going to come anywhere close to his Vegas success in Toronto as a) he approaches 30 and gets less talented and b) he becomes the #1 guy with no Pietrangelo to hide behind.

Furthermore, he's shown to be a player who cannot play a full 82 game season. So while trading Mitch Marner for a "Top Ten NHL Defenseman who scores at nearly a point per game and makes half the money" does sound like a good idea, it's really not because Theodore is a pretty high risk trade.

I want the Leafs to take more risks, but I would prefer they take them when the possibility of the reward makes it worthwhile. Marner is a better player than Theodore and that is never changing. The chances of this trade working out positively for the Leafs are incredibly small.

IMO if the Leafs are going to trade Marner, which they shouldn't, they need to swing for the fences and get either a one-for-one trade for a similarly elite player, or they need a potential superstar who can contribute while still on an entry-level deal.

Anything else and there is too high a chance the Leafs will regret it.