With concerning levels of emotion, many Toronto Maple Leafs fans have been screaming for Mitch Marner and John Tavares to be traded this offseason, but what if they don't want to leave?
It seems crazy to me that both John Tavares and Mitch Marner will be on the Toronto Maple Leafs next season, but the organization may not have a choice.
Both of these players are extremely talented, with Marner arguably being the best right-winger in hockey, but I think it's time to move on.
$22M for Marner and Tavares next year is just too much money when it hasn't worked. If the Leafs weren't committing $11M to Nylander next year, then I could be convinced that the team should keep both Marner and Tavares, but how is this team going to get any better when $46M is allocated to four people? If it hasn't worked yet, why would we think it's going to happen next year?
I think the entire fanbase is so fed up that they would risk having a worse team next year, in exchange for change. I know that sounds crazy that you want to just give away talents like Marner and Tavares, who the fanbase would have killed for 10 years ago, but that's just where we are right now.
Tavares and Marner Need to Waive No-Trade Clause
Marner does so many amazing things, but will always be the easy scapegoat, and that won't change unless he scores a goal per game and puts this team on his back for a playoff series. Although he's a fantastic player and as mentioned, this team is better off without him, you just need to switch it up and Marner is the type of player that can make your team better.
Even if it looks worse on paper with him gone, his exit should motivate others to play better. There has been zero consequences for this roster in the past eight years and the only people they let go, seem to play better elsewhere (*cough, cough - Zach Hyman).
If Marner is on the roster when the 2024-25 season starts, the fanbase will forget about past playoff failure because he'll be dangling his way through defenders all regular season, but once the playoffs hit, they'll remember again and they'll want him gone again. They'll revolt on him and instead of trading him one year prior, they'll lose him in free agency for nothing.
If Marner or Tavares don't waive their no-trade-clause this offseason, we may as well kiss the 2024-25 season goodbye because the Leafs will make the playoffs yet again, then lose in the playoffs. This group of players are not built to win and they need to switch it up before they just lose these two guys for free.