After Mikko Rantanen was traded last weekend, many Toronto Maple Leafs fans have speculated that they'd love to see the same thing happen with Mitch Marner, even though he has a full no-movement clause in his contract, and even though the return for Rantanen was garbage.
There's no player in the NHL who has received more undeserved disrespect than Toronto Maple Leafs superstar Mitch Marner over the past few years. He continues to deliver on both end's of the ice but because of the playoff failures that really don't have much to do with him specifically, many fans get excited about the idea of trading him.
First and foremost, Marner is not getting traded.
If you thought the Rantanen deal would help the idea of Marner getting shipped out of town, it actually does the opposite - now that there is a real example of what you could get for Marner, you can forget it, it's not happening.
What a Maple Leafs Version of the Rantanen Trade Would Look Like
The Avalanche may have wanted to save some actual money, and so they may not have been as concerned about the cap hit or their ability to win going forward as they were about expenses, but the Leafs don't really have that issue.
You could argue that the Leafs can't continue to pay such large amounts of money to so few players, but Tavares is off the books next year, and besides the Leafs have already gotten through the frozen cap, so it's a little late to worry about their ability to compete while paying 4 huge salaries.
The fact is, you can't replace Marner, you can't spend the money in a better way, and you have no leverage at all, so he's signing and he's naming the amount, pretty much.
However for fun, here is what the Marner version of a Rantanen trade would look like.
LA Kings acquire: Mitch Marner and Alex Kerfoot
Toronto Maple Leafs acquire: Adrian Kempe, Tanner Jeannot, 2nd round pick and 4th round pick
Utah Hockey Club acquire: Retains 50 percent of Marner's contract and 3rd round pick
If Utah retains 50 percent of Marner's deal, LA would be taking on $8.965M, while Toronto would be taking on $8.35M so the math adds up.
Kempe currently leads the Kings with 24 goals and 44 points, but has never scored more than 77 points in a season. Marner, on the other hand, is well on his way to finish with over 100 points this year and is a top-10 forward in the NHL while taking as much as 45% less offensive zone faceoffs than other elite scorers.
The Leafs would acquire a solid winger to play alongside Matthews, similarly how the Avalanche acquired a fine forward in Martin Necas, plus they would get Jeannot who can add depth scoring on the team's third line or paired beside John Tavares and William Nylander.
As you can see, the Kings would clearly be winning the trade and the Leafs would get significantly worse. It would be better to let Marner walk after trying to win this year's Stanley Cup rather than make this bad of a trade.
Sorry, Leafs fans, but Marner isn't going anywhere and we shouldn't want that anyways.