Very curious to see what he ends up getting as a UFA. He's a very talented playmaker, but he's small and soft and doesn't really offer a lot else beyond his offensive creativity. Not the sort of guy teams typically go wild for in UFA.
Biggest thing is, i feel like him hitting the UFA market hurts any potential Marner trade market. Why trade a bunch for impending UFA Marner @ $11M and probably wanting a raise...when you can get ~75% of the same player for "free" in UFA for half the price on the cap?
But it also maybe makes Carolina more solidly a destination for a Marner trade. Especially if they also deal Necas away. Maybe they're in a position to pay for the Full Marner rather than the three quarters version?