The Toronto Maple Leafs Should Move Mitch Marner..... to Centre

The Toronto Maple Leafs need to move Mitch Marner - but not in a trade.

What the Toronto Maple Leafs need to do is switch his position - from right winger to centre.

Marner is one of the best passers in the NHL, and he's an elite defender who could easily be one of the NHL's top five or six players once he has a successful playoff season behind him.

Moving him to centre just makes sense - he's an elite set-up man who plays a 200 foot game. It's wasteful to keep him as a winger, and a smarter organization might have realized this years ago.

Pavel Datsyuk, a player who Marner is somewhat similar to, started as a winger and moved to centre, and the Leafs should look to do the same thing with Marner.

The Toronto Maple Leafs Should Move Mitch Marner to Centre

John Tavares is entering the last year of his contract, and even if he avoids a major decline the Leafs will need a new second-line centre a year from now at the latest.

Moving Tavares to the third line could not only prolong his career, but it could prolong how long he is an elite, or near-elite, player.

Marner on the second line would give the Leafs two lines that each have one of the top ten players alive on it.

Last year, the Leafs learned how valuable it could be to break up their two best players. Max Domi and Auston Matthews put up absolutely sick numbers and there is no need for new coach Craig Berube to waste his two best players on the same line.

If you're splitting up the dynamic duo, which seems like a foregone conclusion, then why not have Marner switch to centre where he becomes much more valuable to the team?

People scoff at spending so much on wingers, but if you move Marner to C he's actually kind of cheap for what he does. The Leafs would have arguably the best 1-2 punch in the NHL down the middle, and if Tavares maintains, arguably the best 1-2-3 combo.

As it stands, Tavares is a mid-tier second-line centre. Marner would be elite, and Tavares would be an elite #3.

This move solves all the Leafs forward problems. If they move Marner to C, they've got a shut-down centre, they've got a second-line centre, they don't have so much tied up in wingers, and it makes room in the top six for Nick Robertson or Bobby McMann (whoever wins the job).

Domi, Marner, Nylander and Knies are the Leafs current top four wingers, with Bobby McMann and Nick Robertson knocking on the door.

If you move Marner to centre, you just have so many more options and a better team. The Leafs did promise and fail to deliver on change. They could switch their second-best player's position and spin the story to make it seem like they made big changes.

Trading Marner is a ridiculous and dumb idea, but I can't see a downside to making him a centre.