People are moaning about marner, matthews, nylander
Yes they all need to be better come playoffs and yes they all took more than any comparable while not being as good.
Still they are in their primes, have had elite reg seasons and have another 3-4 years where they can be top 3 players for a contending team
The # 1 culprit if we lose will be John Tavares if he doesnt up his game come playoffs.
He provides negative value for his hit, has lowest upside of the big 4, and is past the stage he is a top 5 player on a cup winner.
I wouldnt let Marner walk just to send a message if we lose
If marner plays good r1 and tavares doesnt, you extend marner, suffer another year of JT and then use that 11M capspace wisely to fix issues on the team
Marner needs 8 or 9 pts in this round and needs to avoid small mental mistakes.
Hes a borderline top 5 winger this year and since 2019 is probably only worse than Kuch, Pasta, Rantanen for wingers (same tier as Panarin, Kaprizov,)
The big 3 now that 2 of 3 are locked at huge deals, it doesnt make sense to cut bait with Marner the 2nd best of the 3. Cut bait with the oldest and least valuable player from the 11M + group