These 4 Toronto Maple Leafs Trades Involving Mitch Marner Are Ridiculous
There's nothing I love more than discussing hypothetical Toronto Maple Leafs trades, especially when they involve Mitch Marner, but it's getting out of control.
If the Toronto Maple Leafs trade Mitch Marner this summer, they're most likely going to lose the trade. Marner has all of the power because of his no-trade-clause, so the team can't make a move without his consent.
It's possible that Marner's so sick of Toronto that he'd be happy to suck it up anywhere for one season before hitting free agency, but he's most likely going to dictate where he goes.
Although he's incredibly skilled, his $10.93M contract is a tough one to move. We talk about the Leafs needing a number-one goalie and top defenseman, but most teams aren't just giving those up, even if it means acquiring someone of Marner's stature.
As a result, as much as it's easy to say that the Leafs need to trade Marner and that the team will automatically get a goalie or defenseman, it's not as easy as it sounds.
Not only that, the Venn Diagram of teams Marner would waive his NMC to go to and who have the cap space and assets the Leafs want likely doesn't include any teams.
With that being said, I don't typically like to draw from other people's work, but this article by the Bleacher Report's Hannah Stuart really got me thinking, as they seemed like ridiculous trades.
Let's take a look at the four trades Stuart proposed, as I personally think the majority of them would be terrible decisions by the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Marner Trade No. 1: Chicago Blackhawks
Chicago Blackhawks acquire Mitch Marner in exchange for Oliver Moore, Kevin Korchinski and 2024 First Round Pick (No. 20 overall).
This is a joke, right?
This trade might help the Leafs, but it wouldn't be until 2028.
Both Moore and Korchinski are first-round picks, with a ton of upside, but they are not can't-miss potential superstars. This trade doesn't help the Leafs win now and this organization doesn't have any time to wait.
Auston Matthews Prime would be over before this trade panned out.
Moore is one of the fastest prospects in hockey, while Korchinski is an offensively gifted defenseman, who can help a team's power-play, but he still needs a few years to develop, like any young defenseman. There are a few exceptions of defensemen who can step in and make an impact right away, but Korchinski would most likely fall in Stanley Cup contending team's bottom-six, which isn't what Toronto needs right now.
In the grand scheme of things, this trade is a great example of why trading Mitch Marner is not possible.
Marner Trade No. 2: Vegas Golden Knights
Vegas Golden Knights acquire Mitch Marner in exchange for Shea Theodore and 2024 First Round Pick
First and foremost, this trade doesn't make any sense financailly. The author dictates that the Golden Knights will just find a way to put someone on LTIR and manipulate the salary cap, but that's not going to happen, especially since the team is already over the salary cap.
The Golden Knights need to shed money this offseason and couldn't take on an additional $5.5M with Marner. Even if they did manipulate things, it seems like an impossible idea to bring in Marner right now.
From the Leafs perspective, they would never make this move.
Theodore is almost 30, and a boarder-line number-one defenseman, but this trade makes the Leafs so much worse it's hard to explain how much without sounding hyperbolic.
Basically you'd be removing a 30 goal, 100 point player who is elite defensively (and the team's best penalty killer) from the linup and adding a one-dimensional Morgan Rielly close who at the tail end of his prime.
At $5.2M, Theodore only has one-year left on his contract, so you're saving money, but trading a decade of Marner for one guaranteed year of a worse player.
What are we even doing here?
The Leafs aren't trading Marner as a cap dump. Come on.
Marner Trade No. 3: Utah
Utah acquires Mitch Marner in exchange for Alex Kerfoot, Maveric Lamoureux and 2024 Secound Round Pick
This trade is the equivalent to the Vince Carter to New Jersey Nets trade in 2004 where the Toronto Raptors traded a disgruntled All-Star for essentially a bag of basketballs. For those Toronto sports fans, it's still ranked as one of the worst trades in not only Raptors history, but in NBA/Toronto history.
In a funny way, Carter and Marner have a lot of similarities. They were both fan-favorites and All-Star's but the fanbase turned on them because of their perceived lack of effort. Please note that many, many studies have shown that humans are terrible at looking at other humans and gauging their effort levels.
This trade is so bad that if both teams agreed to it, Commissioner Gary Bettman should jump in and veto the whole thing.
Imagine trading Marner for defensive prospect, a second-rounder and Kerfoot?! The same Kerfoot that fans were begging to leave, who played on the Leafs fourth line(!!) during thier playoff run last year?
I would rather the Leafs trade Marner for nothing than acquire these players and picks from Utah. This is arguably the dumbest trade proposition in the history of sports and I can't believe someone thought this was relaistic.
Marner Trade No. 4: New Jersey
New Jersey acquires Mitch Marner in exchange for John Marino and 2025 First-Round Pick.
The idea of Marner playing alongside Jack Hughes makes a lot of sense. For New Jersey.
Those two would be brilliant together and if I'm the Devils, I would make that trade every time. However, this trade doesn't make any sense for the Leafs because of who they'd be recieving in exchange.
I know that the Leafs aren't going to get fair compensation for Marner, but Marino doesn't seem like fair value. Marino is a top-four defenseman, who's a vey good defender. He can log 20 minutes per night, but from a Leafs comparable, I'd say a healthy Jake Muzzin is a good comparison.
The Leafs are going to trade one of the best players in the history of their franchise in exchange for an average defenseman and some cap space? Sure.
Muzzin, was a solid defenseman and someone who helped the Leafs, but would you trade Marner for him? Absolutely not. If the Leafs are trading one of the best right-wingers in hockey and want to make a trade with a New Jersey Devils defenseman, then they should be going after Dougie Hamilton, instead.
If the Leafs don't get back a defenseman who is the equal of Mitch Marner, then the trade is a non-starter.
All of these trades that were suggested are terrible trades and there is no chance they will never happen. There is a better chance of me being named the next GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs than there is of the Leafs giving Mitch Marner away for cap space and a lottery ticket.
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I'm still in the boat that I think a change of scenery is good for Marner, but I'd rather have another year of him and let him walk for free then see any of these hypothetical trades happen.