I feel like Marner may actually want to be traded, there's just way too much media pressure in Toronto, and he can't find his groove at all in the playoffs. A fresh start might do him well.
If Toronto does not want to re-sign him, I could see him being open to a trade and sign where another team gives him franchise player money. He was apparently willing to sign an offer sheet with Columbus, but he didn't want to go full term. They wanted full term if they were going to give up four first round picks.
“I think what happened was, if Columbus was going to do it, it had to be for seven years. And I think what I heard Marner was looking for, or his side was looking for, was less term than that,” Friedman said. “But I had multiple people telling me that they thought if anybody was going to do it, it was going to be Columbus.” - Friedman
With that said, Marner holds all the cards. If he wants to stay in Toronto long-term, he could manufacture that by refusing to waive his NMC. Even with all the talk about Marner being a dud in the playoffs, they aren't going to let him sign for nothing. I guess my other post was framed with the assumption that if the core doesn't want to move, Nylander is the odd man out because he doesn't have trade protection until July 1st.
If I am Salt Lake City, I would make a push for Nylander or Marner. Adding a superstar who can put up 100+ points would be a massive way to help market a new team. They are loaded with cap space and assets, they also have a few solid roster players with term at good cap hits that might appeal to the Leafs. If the Leafs have any sense, they ask for Lawson Crouse back as part of any deal. They need someone like him.
Matthews, Marner, Tavares and Nylander all have NMCs. They're not leaving if they don't want to and, even if one of them would leave, they're not going to get a great return if they hand-pick their destination.
Nylander's NMC does not kick in until July 1st.
Sometimes when a superstar signs a big extension with a NMC, they will require the team to redact their current contract to add a NMC so that they cannot be flipped with term (see Carey Price as an example). Nylander could not do that because the current year he is on is an RFA year, so he is not allowed trade protection.
It would be considered scummy by players, but they could trade Nylander anytime prior to July 1st. I don't think it would be a fair thing to do because they gave him a NMC and can only trade him on a technicality before July 1st. It would be very cut throat.
