Player Discussion Mitch Marner

[Aashir]

Marner is not playing the coming week, they hope he can practice on Friday, according to keefe

This still lines him up for that april 1st game against florida. Missing Washington and Buffalo isn’t really a big deal, both should be wins if we show up.

 

[Maple Leaf]

never thought i would miss money man marner but here we are

 

[ZEBROA]

I always miss Marner when he is out, as i do Matthews and Nylander. I would miss Tavares too if i didnt know Keefe insists on putting him with Nylander.

 

[Notsince67]

Liked his edge worked today, looks like Saturday.

Keefe says he isnt expected to play this week.

 

[Antropovsky]

Regardless of what 11 million player, with exception to Matthews, the stats without Marner show that this team doesnt struggle to score and needs to allocate money to Defense. Whether that be Marner, Tavares or Nylander. This Teams patchwork defense isn't going to cut it. It's a team primarily comprised of 3rd and 4th pairing defensemen.

 

[DarkKnight]

Keefe says he isnt expected to play this week.

Thanks didn’t see that.

 

[CDN24]

Marner is not playing the coming week, they hope he can practice on Friday, according to keefe

This still lines him up for that april 1st game against florida. Missing Washington and Buffalo isn’t really a big deal, both should be wins if we show up.

Those high ankle sprains are hit and miss- sometimes it takes a long time to recover. Better to play it safe than come back too early and have a setback

 

[Zybalto]

No need to rush him back. Need him healthy for the playoffs.

 

[Auston Marlander]

never thought i would miss money man marner but here we are

It's almost like having one of the top players in the NHL makes your team better. Who would have thought.

 

[Gary Nylund]

It's almost like having one of the top players in the NHL makes your team better. Who would have thought.

Yeah for sure, even Marner.

 

[ACC1224]

It's almost like having one of the top players in the NHL makes your team better. Who would have thought.

Oh, there's a few, there always is.

 

[CapspaceKiller]

The teams misses Marner when Tavares offers them nothing.

 

[mjd1001]

The teams misses Marner when Tavares offers them nothing.

Well, in the most recent 8 games Marner has missed.....

Tavares: 8 games, 4 goals, 7 assists, 11 points, +5. (A 41 goal, 72 assist, ,+12 pace)

In that stretch, the Leafs have 4 wins and only ONE of the big 3 has a game winning goal. Its not Nylander, Not Matthews, we know its not Marner...yep, its JT.

Not 'exactly' nothing

 

[Antropovsky]

Leafs are 5-3-1 since Marners injury with 38 gf and 27 ga, +11 goal differential.

Matthews was 2nd star of the week and interestingly for the first time this year he won it with more assists than goals. Maybe Matthews is more of a threat with players who shoot and go to the net?

He had a solid week from an offensive standpoint as he posted 10 points (three goals and seven assists) in only four games played. This marks the sixth time this season that he has been named one of the three stars of the week and the first where he recorded more assists than goals on a week he garnered the distinction. All of that while without Mitch Marner who continues to recover from a high-ankle sprain

 

[Racer88]

never thought i would miss money man marner but here we are

The leafs are scoring without him

 

[Racer88]

Leafs are 5-3-1 since Marners injury with 38 gf and 27 ga, +11 goal differential.

Matthews was 2nd star of the week and interestingly for the first time this year he won it with more assists than goals. Maybe Matthews is more of a threat with players who shoot and go to the net?

He had a solid week from an offensive standpoint as he posted 10 points (three goals and seven assists) in only four games played. This marks the sixth time this season that he has been named one of the three stars of the week and the first where he recorded more assists than goals on a week he garnered the distinction. All of that while without Mitch Marner who continues to recover from a high-ankle sprain

Ya I’m not thinking we would miss him as much as some might think. We are also doing this without his 11 million right now. Just think if we had that 11 million to spend on the defence

 

[sunstersun]

Honestly, Matthews gets enough playmaking on a line with Domi and the chemistry is good. They look insane with Bert.

Marner matches well with Tavares relatively. Nylander can anchor a 3rd line.

I know Keefe is gonna copy and paste the lines from the last 5 playoffs so whatever.

 

[francis246]

Ya I’m not thinking we would miss him as much as some might think. We are also doing this without his 11 million right now. Just think if we had that 11 million to spend on the defence

What defenseman? Who are we going to get that’s not overpaid and is actually good?

 

[Punch Drunk Loov]

What defenseman? Who are we going to get that’s not overpaid and is actually good?

It's the job of the GM. We've given the leafs a pass for a long time by saying, well no good defensemen are available so we shouldn't do anything. That's not true, great defensemen are traded every year. Wingers are the least important and most easily replaceable position in the nhl. You hear constantly that cap space is the most rare and valuable asset in the league and we have far too much tied up on the wing, and far too little in defense. Nobody is saying to spend the 11M on extensions for Edmunson and Lyubushkin. When we're out again in round 1, it is malpractice to run it back a 9th season and not even consider the possibility that perhaps the team could try rotating a single new face to a core of players whose greatest accomplishment has already been matched by Seattle.

 

[francis246]

It's the job of the GM. We've given the leafs a pass for a long time by saying, well no good defensemen are available so we shouldn't do anything. That's not true, great defensemen are traded every year. Wingers are the least important and most easily replaceable position in the nhl. You hear constantly that cap space is the most rare and valuable asset in the league and we have far too much tied up on the wing, and far too little in defense. Nobody is saying to spend the 11M on extensions for Edmunson and Lyubushkin. When we're out again in round 1, it is malpractice to run it back a 9th season and not even consider the possibility that perhaps the team could try rotating a single new face to a core of players whose greatest accomplishment has already been matched by Seattle.

Or how about we start drafting and developing some good dmen like other teams do? Would it kill us to have some good young dmen on ELC or low contracts that can out perform their contract?

So that we can keep our star forwards.

I look at all the top teams and yes they have acquired a few defenseman from trade but they have also drafted and developed guys who can step in on their back end and fill roles. It’a essential to winning. You need internal solutions. Until we start developing guys we aren’t going to win.

 

[Gallagbi]

Leafs are 5-3-1 since Marners injury with 38 gf and 27 ga, +11 goal differential.

Matthews was 2nd star of the week and interestingly for the first time this year he won it with more assists than goals. Maybe Matthews is more of a threat with players who shoot and go to the net?

He had a solid week from an offensive standpoint as he posted 10 points (three goals and seven assists) in only four games played. This marks the sixth time this season that he has been named one of the three stars of the week and the first where he recorded more assists than goals on a week he garnered the distinction. All of that while without Mitch Marner who continues to recover from a high-ankle sprain

Didn't Matthews start the year with Bert and Marner? Marner feels like more of a shooter than Domi.

 

[Punch Drunk Loov]

Or how about we start drafting and developing some good dmen like other teams do? Would it kill us to have some good young dmen on ELC or low contracts that can out perform their contract?

So that we can keep our star forwards.

I look at all the top teams and yes they have acquired a few defenseman from trade but they have also drafted and developed guys who can step in on their back end and fill roles. It’a essential to winning. You need internal solutions. Until we start developing guys we aren’t going to win.

Of course I agree a solid development plan would be in our best interest. I'd disagree that our current cap structure will lead to a cup.

We are also able to make trades to acquire those futures you just described

 

[Racer88]

What defenseman? Who are we going to get that’s not overpaid and is actually good?

Not sure but at least we would have the opportunity if one becomes available instead of being locked into one more soft smallish skilled forward when we already have 3 others

 

[Punch Drunk Loov]

Off the top of my head, good defensemen who've been traded recently
Hanifin
Tanev
Toews
Weegar
Ekholm
Lindholm
Hronek
Byram
Manson
Chychyrn
McCabe

To answer the question who are we supposed to acquire? Great defensemen can be obtained. We need to build the team properly. Dubas assembled a flawed team from a cap perspective. The sooner this is remedied the better.

 

[studebaker17]

Off the top of my head, good defensemen who've been traded recently
Hanifin free agent - traded for 1st , 3rd and decent defenceman
Tanev free agent - traded for 2nd , 3rd and prospect
Toews-free agent going to arb- 2 x 2nd round picks
Weegar- part of probably the biggest trade in years so hard to say what part of it he was
Ekholm- cost Barrie , prospect , 1st round pick and 4th
Lindholm cost 2 x 2nds and 2 decent prospects
Hronek cost 1st and 2nd round picks
Byram - cost good forward in mittelstatd
Manson -cost decent prospect Drew Helleson
Chychyrn- cost 1st and 2 x 2nds
McCabe- cost 1st and 2nd

To answer the question who are we supposed to acquire? Great defensemen can be obtained. We need to build the team properly. Dubas assembled a flawed team from a cap perspective. The sooner this is remedied the better.

You need something to trade realisticly to get these guys , not just because you have cap space they'll magically be traded to you. Leafs trade chips to aquire a decent d-man under contract are couple prospects , Knies and 1 x 1st round pick . To get a good d it'll take 2 of the above . Dubas left the team with very little to use in trade and what we do have would probably be better to just keep them . Part of the issue they have with salary is the lack of prospects being drafyed and put into the lineup .
We couldn't aquire a decent winger for Sundin [ or a 2nd line centre ] for years when there wasn't even a cap . Couldn't aquire a good centre for Kessel . It's not as easily done as you say.

I could buy in that you could trade one of the current core guys but it would be pretty stupid just to let them walk so you have cap space to maybe trade more assets to fill. Non of your list are true number ones either , many are 2nd pair guys that would be nice but not at the expense of Marners importance .