Not sure if trading Marner will be the best route to take and with a new coach coming on board once again, will be surprising to see it he's even given the rope to do something that drastic.
But end of the day, whether you believe they just aren't good enough, making too much money to fill out the team, and/or don't mesh well together to win a cup.….
Leafs have two options. Either run it back again and let Tavares and Marner contracts run their course and truly reset next year. Or let a rookie coach make a drastic trade this offseason.
Because they are in that 6-10 range of NHL teams and it’s a place you truly don’t want to be. Good enough to where you have that false sense of “hey we are almost there to making a run” and obviously good enough to where guys are putting up stats that they need to be getting paid a bunch.
Almost better for the Leafs if they go for broke and having the off chance they suck for a year or two to restock.