Friedman: Don't be surprised if the Marner situation plays out over the season

[Soundwave]

I mean with a NMC, which teams would he even waive for to begin with?

NY Rangers, sure, maybe Edmonton to play with McDavid and reunite with Hyman, possibly New Jersey (New York Area, up and coming squad)?, Vegas, LA ... I guess? I think the Leafs if dealing would want him out of the Eastern Conference and certainly not to Tampa/Boston/Florida.

He doesn't strike me as a guy who will just waive for anyone, he wants a big spotlight and probably will want to go a situation where he has a good chance of thumbing his nose at the Leafs (ie: immediate high probability of a Cup Final) if things go down that route.

I think the Leafs will just cave and resign him. The fact is the team is good enough as is to keep selling tickets and a boat load of merch so it's not like there's some emergency, I think they probably will hope that getting a new coach can change things enough.

If not, I could see the Rangers making a pretty significant push for him.

 

[Gil Gunderson]

At this point even if he waives his NMC it’s going to be to be for a very small amount of teams that him walking probably wouldn’t even be much of a difference. The return is going to be very underwhelming if he’s moved.

 

[Miller Time]

I hope he's in Toronto come the fall...

The pressure and negativity will be insane, at the first hint of a bad stretch, the soundbites will be epic

 

[dredeye]

What a state the obvious statement. There’s a chance he won’t be traded in the off season. You don’t say. There’s a chance he might be traded during the off season. You don’t say. Puff piece and nothing more

 

[4thline]

I mean with a NMC, which teams would he even waive for to begin with?

My darkhorse call is San Jose.

Marleau connection, oodles of cap, enough assets to swing it without touching the prime pieces, low pressure, and they could put a team together pretty damn quickly. Marner himself experienced making the playoffs as a rookie on a team that finished last the year before

 

[BLONG7]

Gonna be so funny when he leaves for nothing

This could very well end very ugly for the Leafs.

 

[Marc the Habs Fan]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1798156672277340503

“The thing I would say is, be very, very careful of what you read out there,” Treliving said when asked about Marner speculation. “Mitch is a hell of a player. He’s going into the last year of his contract. We’re not going to comment on any players. Any business that we conduct, we’ll do that between Darren Ferris and us. We’re not going to do play-by-play on it. We’ve got to look at every possible way for our team to be better.

“Mitch controls a lot of this whole thing (with the no-trade). If there’s a way to make our team better, we’re going to do it. But we’re certainly not going to make a trade just so we can pound our chest and say, ‘Look, we’re different.'”

But as Treliving reiterated, they will explore any meaningful way to make the team better. That’s his job as GM.

Reading between the lines, all options on Marner remain on the table:

1. He stays in Toronto and plays out his contract next season.

2. The Leafs look to extend him eventually.

3. Toronto gets a trade offer it feels makes too much sense and brings it to Marner’s camp (and no team would trade for Marner without an extension in place).

“We’re not scared to be bold and do things,” Treliving said. “But there’s got to be things to do out there.

“So we’ll see. But for me, we’ve got a really good player in Mitch Marner. That’s a good thing. We’ll just keep plugging away on it.”

 

[Beukeboom Fan]

The Isles are the team you want to use as an example here? The biggest treadmill team in the league? The second lowest scoring team to make the playoffs, the team that can't score to save their lives and would love a Marner type? They have been more inept than the Leafs.

If we could get a legit #1 D for Marner or a gritty Brady Tkachuk type I'm all for trading him but we can't. The return would be so beyond disappointing for Marner we'd regret it once the emotion wore off.

Speaking of Tavares, there's our issue. That signing was dumb from day 1 (we could've kept Kadri and Hyman for the cost of JT).

I know it might be wishful thinking but priority #1 this off season should be trying to offload him to a team like Chicago since he's not owed much in real dollars and they don't need the cap space next season. Say to JT, "hey, you're welcome for the generational wealth retirement contract, now we need you to do us a solid and accept this trade. Alternative is you ride the bus in the AHL next year or sit in the press box."

NMC means the Leafs can't send Tavares to the AHL. They probably hope to get a discounted next contract.

 

[Arthur Morgan]

The off season hasn’t even started yet.

offseason started as soon as your eliminated from the regular season/playoffs

 

[nbwingsfan]

"We've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas!"

Isn’t the old saying “if doesn’t work the first time then try try try try try try try try try again”?

 

[TheNumber4]

The people that surround Mitch Marner from his agent to his family members are cancers to any organization. The drama that has followed him from the time he was with the Knights proves it.

Huh? What’s the back story here?

https://x.com/i/web/status/1798156672277340503

Yeh he’s staying. Tre can’t negotiate the Pajama boy out of him or a reasonable return.

 

[Thechozen1]

I can see Utah being very interested. I feel like they’re going to want to make a splash. If they’re active in free agency maybe they can sell him on being the new face of that franchise. Not like he’s winning anything in Toronto anyway.

 

[Commander Clueless]

This could very well end very ugly for the Leafs.

To be fair, it's already pretty ugly.

There's not a lot to be optimistic about right now as a Leafs fan.


The failure is palpable.

 

[Pebble live]

This could very well end very ugly for the Leafs.

I mean he seems like cancer to be honest. Obviously leafs would like to see something come back but him being out of the organization alone may end up being very positive for them.

 

[hockey20000]

hes walking for free his agent has a history of it.. only way i see him waving is if its a sc contender at trade deadline and with his cap hit thats not happening

 

[Amadeus]

I mean he seems like cancer to be honest. Obviously leafs would like to see something come back but him being out of the organization alone may end up being very positive for them.

This is getting way out of hand. Marner has done nothing at all to be labelled as cancer, which is a pretty strong word. He hasn't been able to perform in the playoffs for us, and so hasn't Matthews if you ask me.

The NMC is well within his right. Maybe he doesn't see himself playing for another team. Let's wait and see how this plays out.

 

[GeeoffBrown]

AKA magic beans, not interested in that.

Get the draft picks, spend them on Taro Tsujimoto. That way you can have your beans and nothing too!

 

[ManofSteel55]

Come on. If Toronto really wants to get rid of him they will. Just because players have NMC doesn’t mean they can’t be moved. They just get to decide where they want to go.

They get to decide IF they go.

 

[29Potvin]

Eichel wanted to be traded and his Dad wasn't a toxic dickhead.

If the leafs want to move him it's already a complicated endeavor trying to move 10 million but basically impossible if Marner refuses to move.

Realistically I'm sure there are a few teams he might waive for but if you're Brad the return would need to at worst create cap space but there isn't a contending team that can just absorb that cap hit. As for the return why would any team pay to the tits for a rental who has been a part of a core that has failed for 8 years?

If Mitch refused to waive we are stuck with him and he will play the roll he has the last 8 years.
The team will not jeopardize success to make Mitch life hell.
The Toronto media and fans on the other hand will be all over him and that has proven an issue for Mitch in the past.
As for why a team would pay for Mitch, Jersey/ticket sales thought they could sign him for less if they could offer him 8 years, but why would you invest the 11+mil per year that has proved a failure in Toronto? Unless you see his situation more in line with the Kessel,Bozak and Kadri.
Hell the Leafs brought in Jumbo,Marleau and Spezza as mentors for our young core.

All I know is teams make it work if a player like Mitch becomes available.

 

[FerrisRox]

On the June 2nd 32 thoughts podcast Friedman said don't be surprised if the Marner situation plays out over the season, he said that the Leafs don't want to make another deal based on emotion like they did with Kadri.

He said that as of June 2nd he wasn't sure Marner was getting traded.

I'm good with him coming back if that's how it works out.

I'm not against a core change like I have been in the past, but at the same time, I'm not looking to push him out the lineup either, you only move him if it makes sense, and it only makes sense if you can get REAL assets back and no I'm not talking about picks, and prospects and futures, those aren't real assets, those are magic beans, I'm not interested in magic beans.

If Marner is traded you need players, and they need to be good players, Marner is a 90+ point player, you can't trade him for magic beans that you HOPE grow into somebody as good or better than Marner

If the Leafs don't trade him, they will re-sign him and they are doomed to failure.

I can't fathom how fans like you can be okay with this. You deserve the team you have.

 

[Fatass]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1798156672277340503

Marner controls “totally” this situation. The rest seems about right.

 

[Budz]

New GM same leafs

Same Shanahan. It’s all on his watch. He has no business running hockey ops.

 

[LeafGrief]

Tbh, if Marner wants to walk as a UFA next summer I'm completely fine with that because it means he'll be gone and the team can really reinvent themselves with Tavares off the books as well. It would be nice to trade him this summer and get assets for him (no matter how paltry) but the reality is he just needs to go. Giving him another kick at the can only really shows that this team is completely spineless when it comes to Marner, and will ultimately result in management feeling backed into a corner and resigning him to a stupid contract.

This team seems to revolve around Marner's ego. We can't reinvent the core, we need to give Marner one more chance! We can't let Marner walk, we'll have nothing to show for it! We can't win in the playoffs, Mitch sucks in them! We can't keep cap flexibility, we have to pay Mitch more than Nylander or else his feelings will be hurt!

Just send him packing, who gives a shit about winning or losing a trade, the team needs a heart transplant.

 

[drktmplr12]

Trade Mitch for a leader

Oh wait! A unconditional NMC, who knew??

 

[frightenedinmatenum2]

This is posturing. He will be gone before the season. The Leafs have zero leverage in a trade. Their only leverage is creating a level of doubt about whether they will move him.

He will go to Vegas in a sign-and-trade for something like Adin Hill, Karlsson, and the 19th overall pick. He will sign an 8 year 9.5M front-loaded buyout proof extension with a NMC, and Toronto fans will wonder why he never gave them that kind of discount.