Afan of winning a Stanley Cup, perhaps? Guess you missed the playoffs, especially the last few, when Marner has been called out by former players, the media, fans, and even his own management for not being nearly good enough.
Couldn’t be fans on this board tired of seeing the same thing in the playoffs, right?
If this small Marner Fan Club were Panthers fans, they would've thought 115 point Huberdeau should never been traded—and you’d be calling anyone who thought he should be “not a real fan.”
The Huberdeau and Marner situations are not the same and you continuously reference it. Huberdeau was not walked to free agency and he didn’t have an NMC blocking a potential move. You are so irrational and you cannot think clearly when it comes to Marner. I don’t think there is anyone here who believes the organization should blindly resign Marner. But people are thinking logically about the situation.
1. Is trading Marner an option right now? No, so you cannot pull a Florida move. That option left with the wind two years ago so why are we still crying about it?
2. Does this years free agency crop have proven playoff performers who come at a fraction of the cost of one Marner at 12.5 conservatively? - the answer is no for the most part. There’s Bennett and Ekblad. However the problem with UFA is it’s a market and it’s volatile. There is zero guarantee for ROI and is one of the more risky options in pro sports generally. This UFA crop is very weak, many of the top guys have been resigned.
Other factors:
- more control of getting players you want in a trade vs free agency
- letting Marner walk is good in theory but with 22 million you better be damn sure your replacements are good otherwise this team is screwed
- letting him walk and using the cap space to acquire a young talent would be amazing but would cost us some future draft capital. With the cupboards bare, how smart of a decision is that?
- what days do GM’s typically make their biggest mistakes? trade deadline and UFA
- what are the chances Rantanen would sign here? I’d say low. Even if he does that would be an amazing upgrade, but he’d cost more than Marner and those that say we lack depth scoring would complain that our cap structure is even worse.
When I say I want Marner resigned it isn’t some blind love for the guy. It’s with all the points listed above in mind. As I go through each option it comes down to keeping Marner vs hedging on middle aged ufas. I have yet to see a team in the cap era win by building through UFA so I’ll lean towards the safer less volatile option. If Marner wants to accept a trade that would be the best option.
So you can scream and shout about Huberdeau and Florida all you want. It’s not the same thing.