My problem with him is that he isn't a someone I want being THE GUY that we build around combined with the acquisition cost to get him hampers our ability to build a proper team around him. Can he still do that without Matthews and others taking all the pressure away from him?
Oh, I'd be over the moon to get Marner the player, especially for a reasonable, fair acquisition cost (and I'd proabably pay a lot in a vacuum, up to and including the likely 5OA).
Just another pithy comment that produced some good discussion.
Getting rid of Gaudreau would be incredible but he's a soft winger on a long term deal-probably exactly what Toronto doesn't want. Can't see him waving the NMC either.
he's a franchise talent but the guy would still be fantilli. speaking of, i'd argue that marner is a better fit with fantilli than gaudreau or laine are. he's a takeaway machine and elite playmaker, and those two things perfectly compliment fantilli's high-end skating + compete level + hands. on top of that, their handedness matches up perfectly (LH center + RH RW).
the idea is that they'd get him with an extension in place. when players like marner come available (true superstars who move the needle on their own) they can alter the trajectory of a roster.
i assume that toronto's goal in any marner trade would be to achieve all of the following:
i have no issue paying marner a market-value contract given that he's a legitimate superstar talent. legit and consistent 90-100 point player who eats up tough matchups and plays selke-level defense, it's a no-brainer.
mark stone has an almost identical AAV to gaudreau, and plays the same position as marner. i do agree that this feels like a vegas move, but in today's league (and where the cap is going) you can absolutely win with multiple expensive wings.
The VGK already have to play games with LTIR to make it work. Marner's contract would make that impossible.
vegas is ruthless when it comes to roster management, so they'll definitely either let marchessault walk or trade someone like karlsson to make room.
I agree that Marner probably isn't something Vegas is looking to do but...
vegas's entire MO has been to eschew loyalty and ignore sunk costs in order to make the team as competitive as possible.
Two different types of players IMO. Eichel can play a bit of an edgy game while having a ton of finesse skills while Marner is completely devoid of the"edge" while no doubt being a very talented albeit strictly perimeter player with a ton of finesse in his game.
If we're looking to diversify our wings, this doesn't do that. I'm not saying he wouldn't be an upgrade but for his AAV and what it might cost to get him...and... only one year left on his deal. Big time pass in my book. I don't even think he would make the CBJ better. Soft, small and redundant (with, of course, more skill). This teams needs to diversify their holdings to balance the on-ice and off ice product.
fwiw nobody is saying the jackets should be in on him as a pure rental – the idea would be to get him to be part of a core with fantilli.
i disagree with the notion that marner would be 'redundant' with the current set of wingers on the grounds that he's significantly better than all of them at just about everything.
Id imagine he'd have to be part of the deal which obviously adds to the importance of knowing hes here longterm
Yeah obviously there is pluses there whether thats bigger forwards/defensemen/whatever but to lose Marner and Tavares coming to the end of his deal makes that offense look a lot less special. Im guessing they'd want to mitigate that to some degree
It's great to compare players on different teams, as I can't remember Laine, Chinakhov, or Marchenko playing with similar players to Marner. You're also forgetting age, Marchenko is 3 years younger, Chinakhov is 4. I'm very interested to see how many points Mitch would have had if Toronto had a similar lineup to what we had last season, and he had to play 8 different lines, like Laine with an AHL defense and bottom 6 centers. Same with Chinakhov and Marchenko playing with Voronkov/Jenner/Sillinger.
What it's going to come down to (obviously) is how aggressive the new GM wants to be.. are they going to want to slowly try to build around this team or are they going to want to shake things up and put their stamp on the roster right away?
