Why doesn’t he deserve those minutes? Who’sgoing to replace him? He might not be worth $11 million, but given the money spent on him, Tavares, Nylander, and Matthews, he’s still the best option. The next highest-paid forwards after the core four are at $3.7 million and $2.5 million; huge drop-off.
Marner’s a good player, just overpaid for the last five years. He was paid to be a difference-maker like Matthews, McDavid, or Kane, but it never happened. Instead, he's closer to Rantanen and Aho, and I'd argue below them. Especially when you factor in Marner’s lack of size, his position as a winger, limited goal-scoring, he plays with a superstar center, and his significant lack of playoff success.
It’s fine to give him big minutes, not because he doesn’t deserve them, but because of the gap between the core four and the rest of the forwards.
Some players don’t put their best effort into regular-season games. Marner’s not one of them. But some treat the playoffs like life or death. Marner’s not one of them either. This is year 5 or 6 of Marner being dreadful in the playoffs and then season comes around and hes working his butt off in much more space while opposition are coasting, and certain posters are back referring to him as the Leafs best player.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me five-eight times, shame on me. At some point, the pattern speaks for itself, and yet every year people seem ready to forget.
Marners poor playoff performance has been a topic since 2018. Let that sink in. Babcock did interviews on Marner needing to dig in that year, there are articles with the interviews.
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