5 Offseason Trade Landing Spots for Maple Leafs Winger Mitch Marner
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It’s not a real NHL offseason until the Toronto Maple Leafs have suffered another excruciating exit from the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Even though that’s become a customary occurrence, this year’s first-round defeat at the hands of the Boston Bruins comes with a twist.
A crushing 2-1 overtime loss in Game 7 Saturday night in Boston means changes are coming to the Leafs’ vaunted Core 4 of Auston Matthews, John Tavares, William Nylander and Mitch Marner.
The stars are aligned for the Leafs to shake things up and move on from Marner.
After Matthews’ and Nylander’s monster extensions, which kick in next year, Marner heads into the final season of his deal. The 26-year-old has a full no-move clause, and with unrestricted free agency awaiting him, it’s a less-than-ideal situation for the Leafs.
But where do you trade a star player in his prime with a $10.9 million salary-cap hit on an expiring deal? We’ve got some ideas, and no, it’s not just every other team in the league. We’re going to pick out the five best ones to think long and hard about.
Chicago Blackhawks
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Chicago already has Connor Bedard as its biggest building block. He’s great, and there’s a really good chance he’ll win the Calder Trophy to become rookie of the year.
While the team is likely going to get another top-five draft pick this summer, and it’s got the second-best odds of winning the NHL draft lottery for the No. 1 pick and right to take Macklin Celebrini, it’s going to need more to become a playoff threat sooner than later.
Chicago has oodles of cap space, and taking on Marner’s $10.9 million hit wouldn’t be a problem. Asking him to play with Bedard and maybe Celebrini might be an easy sell for him to waive his no-move clause, and his all-around abilities to score points and defend well would go over huge in the Windy City.
Toronto, ideally, would land a No. 1 defenseman in any trade for Marner and, well, that’s not a hope that’s going to be fulfilled by Chicago. Moving Marner and taking on Seth Jones (who also has a no-move clause) and his $9.5 million cap hit through 2029-2030 is probably not going to work.
Moving prospects and/or a future first-round pick that should be pretty high, though? Maybe that gets the Leafs’ ears perked up.
Columbus Blue Jackets
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The Columbus Blue Jackets are always looking for answers to help them turn things around and give their ultra-loyal fans a winning team to root for. Finding a way to add Marner would certainly go a long way toward doing that.
Marner would give the Jackets offense an extra boost and a player who can be dangerous on the other side of the puck as well, which separates him from guys like Johnny Gaudreau and Patrik Laine.
Columbus has up-and-coming players at forward such as Adam Fantilli, Kir