Speculation: Armchair GM - 2025 Offseason Thread

[tjcourt6]

The amount of time we've spent fantasizing about a player who's known for not liking Columbus is mind-boggling to me. He'll be expensive, he doesn't fulfill the team's biggest need, doesn't have a great rep in terms of playoff performance, does he even know or practice with some of our guys during summers?

Waddell needs to re-sign someone quick to give us more concrete and important things to talk about.

While I agree with our point. Strengthening the blue line and goaltending should have priority this offseason.

But where has there been indication that Marner does not like Columbus? Yes he declined an offer sheet in 2019 but at the end of the day the leafs were still building a promising future. Obviously context is much different in comparison to both of our teams situations.

Toronto's core 4 dream has faded. Columbus is starting to naturally exit their rebuild with promising young talent. That being said he's probably gonna want to go to the team closest to contending that can afford him..

 

[tunnelvision]

But where has there been indication that Marner does not like Columbus?

There once was a live stream clip of Marner on twitter which I believe got vanished later but I think @CBJWerenski8 found it recently and can hopefully share it.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

There once was a live stream clip of Marner on twitter which I believe got vanished later but I think @CBJWerenski8 found it recently and can hopefully share it.

Clips have been removed but here’s a Reddit thread with his quotes on them. Which obviously we can’t prove now that he said it, but there’s also no reason to deny it wasn’t said either.

https://www.reddit.com/r/hockey/s/qHWOOO3nZV

Would also like to point out that he was 22 years old when he said it, and it (apparently) was brought up after being mentioned with Montreal, Toronto, and Vegas. (For the bubble playoffs)

He’s an adult family man now with different priorities in life.

Doesn’t necessarily mean he “loves” the idea of coming here. But I don’t necessarily believe this means he “hates” Columbus either. People seem to forget that if Philadelphia offered Gaudreau a contract he would have never came here, we weren’t his first choice either.

 

[Ice9]

I don’t care if we sign the guy or not ultimately. Send a fair offer and see what happens. I get tired of hearing we can’t sign someone just in case one/some of our guys becomes a superstar(s). Sure, I’ll settle being a perennial fringe wildcard team just in case our prospects turn to gold

 

[tjcourt6]

Clips have been removed but here’s a Reddit thread with his quotes on them. Which obviously we can’t prove now that he said it, but there’s also no reason to deny it wasn’t said either.

https://www.reddit.com/r/hockey/s/qHWOOO3nZV

Would also like to point out that he was 22 years old when he said it, and it (apparently) was brought up after being mentioned with Montreal, Toronto, and Vegas. (For the bubble playoffs)

He’s an adult family man now with different priorities in life.

Doesn’t necessarily mean he “loves” the idea of coming here. But I don’t necessarily believe this means he “hates” Columbus either. People seem to forget that if Philadelphia offered Gaudreau a contract he would have never came here, we weren’t his first choice either.

I think the change in culture might be the most attractive thing about Columbus. The vibes in Columbus this year were emaculate. The only other locker room I've seen with the same vibes was san jose. These guys know their in the foothold of something that could be great in coming years.

Something tells me Marner is headed out west.

 

[ViD]

I don’t care if we sign the guy or not ultimately. Send a fair offer and see what happens. I get tired of hearing we can’t sign someone just in case one/some of our guys becomes a superstar(s). Sure, I’ll settle being a perennial fringe wildcard team just in case our prospects turn to gold

Well, we just had a UFA signing of the best available player on the market a few years ago, I doubt it happens again anytime soon

 

[Ice9]

Well, we just had a UFA signing of the best available player on the market a few years ago, I doubt it happens again anytime soon

And that’s how you sell Marner or any other family oriented player. Admittedly, JG had another extraordinary reason to play here but still, sell them, offer them fair compensation and let the chips fall where they may. You tried…

 

[CBJWerenski8]

Something tells me Marner is headed out west.

I agree. My prediction was Anaheim.

 

[majormajor]

There was a guy we know pretty well, he was also labeled a playoff choker. He was also told he needed to see a psychologist to potentially help him through his playoff issues. He fell on his face quite a few times in the playoffs.

Then he left that team, and has since become one of the best and most clutch playoff goalies in his generation. That guy is obviously Bobrovsky.

Yes. He’s played on excellent teams. Especially defensively. But he’s had an incredible “clutch” turnaround ever since leaving Columbus and his playoff demons are that of the past.

Sometimes a change is all a player needs. And that’s why I am all aboard the Mitch Marner train. I do have genuine concerns that adding him makes us a bit small and weak on the wings, but I am willing to take that chance.

The choker label was unfair bullshit directed at Bob the whole time. He was sensational in the playoffs for us in 2019 and he was very good in 2018 and didn't deserve any of the criticism directed at him. We already had the best version of Bob. Getting out of Columbus helped his reputation, not his actual play. Anyways I already covered the details in the around hockey thread.

I think you're referring to the actual ghost, Matthews? The one who is supposed to be finishing said chances that Marner creates.

I just don't agree at all. In reality, Marner will probably end up going to the hawks or sharks and slowly start proving Toronto medias propaganda on him wrong. Give Marner the proper change of scenery and the elite goalscorer he needs. He'll be fine.

Matthews' play falls off in the playoffs from elite to decent, not to abhorrently awful. It's not like Marner is setting him up with tap ins and he is failing, there's just fewer opportunities with less space in the middle of the ice.

You can't tell me that Marner's true value is only when he gets to play with fully healthy Matthews playing at his absolute best. A player's value should be gauged by how they play in a variety of situations with a variety of different players.

Clips have been removed but here’s a Reddit thread with his quotes on them. Which obviously we can’t prove now that he said it, but there’s also no reason to deny it wasn’t said either.

https://www.reddit.com/r/hockey/s/qHWOOO3nZV

Would also like to point out that he was 22 years old when he said it, and it (apparently) was brought up after being mentioned with Montreal, Toronto, and Vegas. (For the bubble playoffs)

He’s an adult family man now with different priorities in life.

Doesn’t necessarily mean he “loves” the idea of coming here. But I don’t necessarily believe this means he “hates” Columbus either. People seem to forget that if Philadelphia offered Gaudreau a contract he would have never came here, we weren’t his first choice either.

It's a ridiculous non-controversy.

Imagine that your company announces that they are going to do a month long retreat in January to finish some important business. The four locations they're considering are Myrtle Beach, Nashville, Santa Fe, and Indianapolis. You really don't want them to pick Indianapolis. That doesn't mean that you have any special feeling against Indianapolis or that you would never move there yourself someday. It's just not a place you want to go for a company retreat.

 

[CBJx614]

Rant time

Marner probably weighs 165 pounds and plays SCARED during the playoffs. He avoids hits at all costs and the picture you see that says "playoff perminter player" in the hockey dictionary is of him.

He pouted like a baby when Matthews (perhaps a bigger loser than Mitch) was signed to a bigger contract than him.

I honestly don't know why anyone here would want him. Did you see that childish outburst he directed at his bench? Real leadership there He had 8 shots on goal the entire Florida series-just 4 in the final 6. 2 goals in 13 playoff games this year. And he averaged over 20 minutes TOI. He has 13 career playoff goals in 70 games played-15 goals per 82. 63 points overall. .9 PPG. He's a playoff nothing burger. The bigger the game, the smaller the Marner showing.

A change of scenery doesn't change ANY of the above. Would you want this guy at $13 million or so for 7 years (he's likely peaked in production) with a full NMC?

The CBJ are a team on the rise. Assuming a shore up in defense and goaltending they will make the playoffs this year. Led the league in 5v5 goals. Appear to have a solid locker room with a good culture being created. There is a chance that a few of these players (Fantilli/KJ/Marchenko/Mateychuk/Z) will require mega contracts while Mitch would be in the middle of his mega deal in Columbus. Would you like to be not able to sign one of them because a declining Marner's contract wouldn't allow for it?

Let Chicago or some going nowhere team sign this side show. Signing Mitch Marner is a fool's errand.

All but 4 of his seasons would break the CBJ regular season point record. 2 of which were his rookie and sophomore sessions, the other 2 he only played 50 some odd games and still put up 60+ pts.

Last I checked hockey is a team sport and he is far from the only one on that team that disappeared. I don't know if he's necessarily considered a leader in the room but the blame falls on the leadership and management. And when I look at the locker room Matthews, Tavares and Reilly are the guys who I place the blame, not Marner.



But I do agree with him likely not wanting to come here, but money talks... And so do players to one another so anything is possible.

 

[KJ Dangler]

From Pronmans article today , analyzing the remaining 4 teams..
The biggest similarity between the four teams is their defensemen. The core defenders on these teams, for the most part, all have size, and outside of Bouchard, who is a unique case, they all tend to skate well or very well.


The forwards are more of a mixed bag. You have the star-driven group of Edmonton, the hard-to-play-against group in Florida, the deadly top trio in Dallas and a mixture of everything in Carolina. Carolina and Dallas show that you could win playoff rounds by giving some smaller forwards major ice time. Despite some of these forwards being very fast, there’s a lot of mediocre skaters in this group which has been a theme for years with the final few teams, that their forwards can be average skaters as long as they are very skilled, hardworking and physical and usually not small, although Jackson Blake seems to be an outlier case.

All our focus should be at defense and goalie ….

 

[hockey17jp]

I don't see any reason why we don't take a swipe at Mitch Marner. We are basically hoping that one of more of our current young studs turn into a Marner. If we have the cap space and we can add a perennial 90 - 100 point guy we should do it.

Kent Johnson could turn into anything! He could even be Mitch Marner!

Do agree about him likely heading out West though, and I won't necessarily be upset if we don't land him. I just think some of the people in here acting like signing Marner would be BAD for the Columbus Blue Jackets need to do some soul searching - haha

 

[GoJackets1]

Sometimes all a guy needs to become a playoff performer is a change of scenery. I imagine that can be especially true in the case of Toronto players. Marner is pretty soft, but why is that the be all end all characteristic that should lead us to stay away?

 

[CBJWerenski8]

All our focus should be at defense and goalie …

In theory I would agree, but there’s nothing out there in UFA at either position that’s impactful like Marner is.

I think the goalie ship has sailed. I’m nearly certain it’s going to be Elvis and Jet.

On D, I keep reading on here that the type of D we need aren’t hard to acquire. If true, that’s good, but that also feeds into attempting a big time addition up front. If we can get said defensemen (multiple, since I’m starting to doubt Fabbro and Provorov are coming back) pretty easily and relatively cost efficient. We should have plenty left over.

Adding a Marner/Ehlers/Boeser (who we were linked to at the deadline from some in Vancouver media) doesn’t have to come at the expense of defensive upgrades. There’s plenty of money to go around this offseason to get a big fish forward, get multiple D, and have plenty left over to sign our kids in the future.

 

[Xoggz22]

I've heard GMDW say it before that he doesn't like UFA hunting. It's not high on his list to fix a team. supplement, yes... that said, I don't think he goes hard after Marner and addresses the needs by working on the D first. And, to me, that will come via trade. I don't hate Marner, but I think any big ticket is going to not be worth the money and we'll be with that financial position when it comes time to re-sign the core of KJ, Fantilli and Marchenko.

Use assets on the D.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

I've heard GMDW say it before that he doesn't like UFA hunting. It's not high on his list to fix a team. supplement, yes... that said, I don't think he goes hard after Marner and addresses the needs by working on the D first. And, to me, that will come via trade. I don't hate Marner, but I think any big ticket is going to not be worth the money and we'll be with that financial position when it comes time to re-sign the core of KJ, Fantilli and Marchenko.

Use assets on the D.

He did say that, and then he immediately went out and bought Sean Monahan in what most people said at the time (me included) was a bad overpay.

He was after a top 6 forward all year, especially when the injuries happened. I truly believe he’s going to be very active to adding up front as well as On D.

 

[Iron Balls McGinty]

People don't like UFA hunting but its part of the game. If you don't participate in the process while other people do, you're just handicapping your options to be better.

You have to be smart about it but if the player that is out there will help your team be what you want it to be, you've got to play the game.

 

[GoJackets1]

Avoiding UFA hunting makes sense when the top UFAs are guys like David Clarkson and Nathan Horton. When it’s guys like Marner, Ehlers, Gaudreau, maybe Boeser, etc- you absolutely try to add guys like that to your roster for free.

 

[Xoggz22]

He did say that, and then he immediately went out and bought Sean Monahan in what most people said at the time (me included) was a bad overpay.

He was after a top 6 forward all year, especially when the injuries happened. I truly believe he’s going to be very active to adding up front as well as On D.

I don't disagree that he'll be active, but I think it's the trade market and less so Free Agency. I'm sure he'll kick tires. And last year was also different when it came to adding leadership (and the JG factor) and dumping the dead weight. Imagine what Monahan would get this year... crazy good deal at the moment.

To be clear, I have no issue with bringing in a UFA to help. I'm not opposed to Marner, but I just don't have interest in paying him that kind of money when other needs are bigger. Maybe he takes a stop gap approach on the D as the young guys develop? I'm just not as in on Marner as some of you are. I don't think he's the piece to take the next step without fixing the other areas. Now if the other areas can be addressed AND we add Marner. Great. That just can't be the first order of business in my book. And if it's not, we won't get him.

 

[Xoggz22]

People don't like UFA hunting but its part of the game. If you don't participate in the process while other people do, you're just handicapping your options to be better.

You have to be smart about it but if the player that is out there will help your team be what you want it to be, you've got to play the game.

More often than not you're handcuffing yourself with an overpaid and underperforming asset for the cost. I do agree with you that they need to be smart. I don't know what that looks like with a guy like Marner. I'd prefer Ehlers who also makes us better (much) and doesn't impact 2-3 years down the road when Fantilli, KJ, Marchy, others? all are either being paid or need to be paid. I guess maybe we worry about it then. Just not my preference for that big fish (Marner).

 

[stevo61]

I don't disagree that he'll be active, but I think it's the trade market and less so Free Agency. I'm sure he'll kick tires. And last year was also different when it came to adding leadership (and the JG factor) and dumping the dead weight. Imagine what Monahan would get this year... crazy good deal at the moment.

To be clear, I have no issue with bringing in a UFA to help. I'm not opposed to Marner, but I just don't have interest in paying him that kind of money when other needs are bigger. Maybe he takes a stop gap approach on the D as the young guys develop? I'm just not as in on Marner as some of you are. I don't think he's the piece to take the next step without fixing the other areas. Now if the other areas can be addressed AND we add Marner. Great. That just can't be the first order of business in my book. And if it's not, we won't get him.

It's also a strange year with the cap climbing and a lot of teams looking to buy with a lot of the same holes. Waddell might have to get creative or look for the Dante Fabbro's of the world because there is going to be competition for these assets and I wouldn't be shocked if prices are kinda nutty

 

[Xoggz22]

Avoiding UFA hunting makes sense when the top UFAs are guys like David Clarkson and Nathan Horton. When it’s guys like Marner, Ehlers, Gaudreau, maybe Boeser, etc- you absolutely try to add guys like that to your roster for free.

You picked two guys we had bad luck with (or bad scouting on their injuries). I agree with you that the high end guys, still in prime, are guys that you look to add. They are also going to be the guys that command the biggest overpay due to the competition and, again, from my perspective, the forward ranks are not where I would push first. If we can take care of the back end through trades prior to free agency and the path forward allows for us to add one of them... I'm on board. I just don't see that being the way the cards fall and can't personally justify a soft, small winger that has yet to drive play in the playoffs with one of the best scorers in the game to a $14MM AAV over 7 years. That's what I think it will take and that's a tough one to swallow for me when I don't think scoring is an issue.

 

[Xoggz22]

If we can lock up Fabbro at a 2nd pair D type price... then I think some of this conversation changes for me. Right now I see a RHD side that is chock full of shit as it stands. Guddy and Severson... That scares the hell out of me. Marner isn't fixing that. Hell, neither is Boesser or Ehlers. At least Marner is really good defensively and woudl help the PK and overall 5 v 5 play. I'm just fixated on the D getting some life beyond next year.

 

[Jovavic]

I wonder if Seattle will make a pitch for Marner. The owner can't be happy with how things are going compared to their expansion brothers. Washington is also a no sales tax state like Texas and Florida so the main boards content on here will be something to see.

 

[cbjthrowaway]

Marner probably weighs 165 pounds and plays SCARED during the playoffs. He avoids hits at all costs and the picture you see that says "playoff perminter player" in the hockey dictionary is of him.

this is exactly what folks said about the guy in your profile pic