The fact is, no one knows if Marner is a 95+ point player away from a dude scoring 50+ goals a year, every year. Can Marner generate his own offense? would he benefit Thomas? I don't think Marner is a good fit for this team or this market.
Marner scoring while Matthews absent from lineup… I was bored, I dug through and cross referenced game logs for their careers to get the answer. (note I rearranged the scores to be consistent TOR-Opponent, not realizing that it listed home/away and that's led to a few instances where Marner scored in a game I listed as Toronto being shutout - I think I caught those, but you can look up the discrepancies if they are jarring. By the time I noticed I said f*** it, I'm not restarting to fix this - I've developed a f***ing headache by over exerting myself with the post-concussion shit already).
Spoiler... Marner's still pretty productive when Matthews isn't playing. In the 56 regular season games Matthews has missed over the last 8 seasons Marner has scored 16-50-66p in 54gp. That's a 100p scoring pace over an 82 game schedule, I think Marner is still probably an 80-100p player on a playoff team without a 50+ goal scorer.
2016-17 Matthews plays all 82 games
2017-18 Matthews misses 20 games
Marner 7-17-24p in those games
Mar 20 3-4 L vs TBL, 0-1-1
Mar 17 4-0 W vs MTL, 0-1-1
Mar 15 2-5 L vs BUF, 0-1-1
Mar 14 6-5 W vs DAL, 0-2-2
Mar 10 5-2 W vs PIT, 1-1-2
Mar 5 3-5 L vs BUF, 1-0-1
Mar 3 2-5 L vs WSH, 0p
Feb 27 2-3 L vs FLA, 0p
Feb 26 3-4 L vs TBL, 1-1-2
Feb 24 4-3 W vs BOS, 1-3-4
Dec 20 2-4 L vs CBJ, 1-0-1
Dec 19 8-1 W vs CAR, 1-3-4
Dec 15 1-3 L vs DET, 0p
Dec 14 0-2 L vs MIN, 0p
Dec 12 2-4 L vs PHI, 0-1-1
Dec 10 1-0 vs EDM, 0p
Nov 16 1-0 W vs NJD, 0p
Nov 11 1-4 L vs BOS, 1-1-2
Nov 10 3-2 W vs BOS, 0-2-2
Nov 8 4-2 W vs MIN, 0p
18-19 Matthews misses 14 games
Marner 2-16-18p in those games
Nov 26 4-2 W vs BOS, 0-3-3
Nov 24 6-0 W vs PHI, 0-2-2
Nov 23 2-4 L vs CBJ, 0p
Nov 21 2-5 L vs CAR, 0p
Nov 19 4-2 W vs CBJ, 0-2-2
Nov 16 1-2 L vs ANA, 0-1-1
Nov 15 3-5 L vs SJS, 1-2-3
Nov 13 1-3 L vs LAK, 0-2-2
Nov 10 1-5 L vs BOS, 0-1-1
Nov 9 6-1 W vs NJD, 0p
Nov 6 3-1 W vs VGK, 1-0-1
Nov 3 5-0 W vs PIT, 0-2-2
Nov 1 1-2 L vs DAL, 0p
Oct 29 1-3 L vs CGY, 0-1-1
19-20 Matthews missed 0 games
20-21 Matthews missed 4 games
Marner 2-4-6p
*Canadian division 56 game season.
Apr 15 2-5 L vs WPG, 0-1-1
Mar 1 4-0 W vs EDM, 0-1-1
Feb 27 4-0 W vs EDM,1-1-2
Jan 22 4-2 W vs EDM, 1-1-2
21-22 Mathews missed 9 games
Marner 2-6-8 in 8gp.
Apr 29 5-2 W vs BOS, Marner out.
Apr 21 1-8 L vs TBL, 0p
Apr 19 5-2 W vs PHI, 0-1-1
Apr 17 4-2 W vs NYI, 1-0-1
Mar 17 3-2 W vs CAR, 1-0-1
Mar 15 4-0 W vs DAL, 0-2-2
Oct 16 3-1 W vs OTT, 0p
Oct 14 2-3 L vs OTT, 0p
Oct 13 2-1 W vs MTL, 0-1-1
22-23 Matthews missed 8 games
Marner 2-6-8 7gp
April 11 3-4 L vs TBL, Marner out.
Feb 11 3-4 L vs CBJ, 0-2-2
Feb 10 3-0 W vs CBJ, 0-2-2
Feb 1 2-5 L vs BOS, 1-0-1
Jan 29 5-1 W vs WSH, 0-1-1
Jan 27 2-6 L vs OTT, 0-1-1
Jan 12 2-1 W vs NSH, 0p
Jan 11 1-4 L vs DET, 1-0-1
23-24. Matthews missed 1 game
Dec 16 7-0 W vs PIT, Marner 1-1-2p