Marner and Tavares are fired. Pink slip. Do not work here any more. They have every right to not waive their NTC's, but if this team wants to have any sort of "winning culture" they need to have some sort of accountability from the captain, alternate, and pair of 11m players who just cannot get it done when the season is on the line. Marner is the prime culprit and cannot play on the Leafs next year, JT can simply be stripped of the C and allowed to walk next summer.
If we trot this batch out with the same leadership structure, it is explicit acceptance of failure. Trade value doesn't matter, if we get a bag of pucks for either of Marner or JT that's one more bag of pucks than we'll have when they walk as UFA's next summer. Accountability in the lockerroom is far and away the most important part of moving on from them. This team is obviously a country club and no player who is serious about winning a cup is going to sign where we let 11m bozos continue to fail and fail. We're the kind of team right now where the players who want to sign with us are the ones we don't want, and the ones we want will avoid us like the plague.
Retool next year. Playoffs aren't the goal, putting a team back together takes a year or two. If we make the dance, great, otherwise it's worth taking a few steps back if we can get onto a winning path.