Who should take the blame in Toronto for letting Marner walk and get nothing in return?

[Nikolajs Sillers]

Senators, who else

 

[Frosty415]

Fans and media. They made him the scape goat for many things, while Matthews for the longest time got a free pass.

Marnier has 14 more pts than Matthews over the last 10 years. While most praised Matthews for his goal scoring, they took the whip to Marnier. It will be interesting to how he does away from Matthews shadow.

We'll see next year when Marner is gone, if Matthews productions is horrible come playoff, mitch won't be there to be the scrapegoat

 

[The Hanging Jowl]

Treliving arrived like the day Marner’s no trade kicked in. Shanahan made the poorly times GM change right when Marner needed to be traded. Wouldn’t be surprised if this is why Shanahan was fired

I assume you're being metaphorical by saying "like the day before". Treliving was hired May 31 and had a full month to work the phones to move Marner during the small window he had before the NMC kicked in. Should have been his top priority. As far as I know, he didn't talk to anyone. I can understand it would have been very difficult starting a new job and suggesting such a bold move. But it still would have been the right move if Marner wasn't interested in extending (or had ridiculous demands).

 

[frightenedinmatenum2]

They should have traded him before his NMC kicked in, but they live in a different reality than most of the league. They are a destination team. They aren't quite Vegas or Florida, but they are up there as a team players want to go to. The return on Marner will be whatever star(s) sign with them this year or next for the cap space he occupied.

Yes, they could have dealt him for assets and double-dipped. But it isn't as large of a set back as it was for a team like Ottawa to lose Stone for nothing (they got a good piece at the time, but he didn't amount to anything).

When a team is a destination like Toronto, they can take more risks because they have the ability to top up the roster in free agency or by trading for pending UFAs at pennies on the dollar and having them re-sign.

 

[frightenedinmatenum2]

It doesn't look good.

NHL Insider Says Mitch Marner Won't Even Talk To The Maple Leafs

View attachment 1053641

LOL, this should not come as a surprise to anybody.

Toronto came to him at the trade deadline and asked him to waive so they could upgrade on him. That's like your wife asking you if you'd go easy on her in a divorce if she kicked you out in exchange for a taller Finnish man.

For better or worse, Toronto has always made it clear Marner is second banana to Matthews.

Lastly, also forced his dad off Twitter.

 

[DuncanMacpherson]

I assume you're being metaphorical by saying "like the day before". Treliving was hired May 31 and had a full month to work the phones to move Marner during the small window he had before the NMC kicked in. Should have been his top priority. As far as I know, he didn't talk to anyone. I can understand it would have been very difficult starting a new job and suggesting such a bold move. But it still would have been the right move if Marner wasn't interested in extending (or had ridiculous demands).

Has there ever been a time in history where a new GM was hired and traded the team’s superstar one month onto the job?

 

[Suntouchable13]

We'll see next year when Marner is gone, if Matthews productions is horrible come playoff, mitch won't be there to be the scrapegoat

Again, are fans supposed to kiss the player's feet? Players who have accomplished squat. Stop blaming fans and media for the team's shortcomings. Leafs fans have had enough. 23 years without even a Conference Final appearance. The fans have been very patient. Stop blaming the fans!!

 

[hamzarocks]

Marner is PPG in playoffs last four seasons. The narrative that he is suddenly useless is overblown.

He was very good vs 2022 Tampa (8pts in 7 games, 2023 Tampa (11 pts in 6 games) and 2025 OTT (8 pts in 6 games)

Got locked down vs 2023 FLO (3 pts in 5 games), 2024 Bruins (3 pts in 7 games) and 2025 FLO ( 5 pts in 7 games).

3 great series and 3 ones he sucked. That while making 11M and know wanting to be paid like Draisaitl/Mackinnon/Mcdavid level player.

He is a Sebastian Aho/Brayden Point tier player. The 3rd to 5th best player on a cup winner. 14M is absurd ask for the leafs when Matthews and Nylander are both also 3rd to 5th best players on a team level guys. Making the core fail epicly when matched vs tough defensive teams with strong/hot goaltending

 

[The Trash Man]

The fans

 

[shaner8989]

Dubas. Worst gm in modern day history. I could write a novel about his wrong doings. Loser. Also Shanahan for bringing in a clown to operate the franchise.

 

[Boud]

I still think the best outcome for Toronto is Marner re-signing with them. People are mad about the lack of playoff success and blame it on Marner but the reality is there’s not many teams who win cups and not every team is entitled to a cup. There are many teams who don’t win and they don’t let their best players walk for nothing. It’s just because it’s Toronto and there’s so much noise. Countless elite players and even some hall of famers have never won cups.

They won’t be able to get anyone as good to replace him, especially not this offseason.

Leafs should have tried to re-sign Marner and traded some other players to shake things up. I think Treliving put the nail in the coffin when he asked Marner to waive his NMC at the deadline. I do think that at that point there was no turning back and I think ultimately it will result in very poor asset management.

Every player is a poor playoff performer until they aren’t. People say shit about any player until they win. Ovi, Kessel, Kadri, Jones, etc etc etc. I think chances that Toronto is a better team next year are pretty damn slim.

 

[toddkaz]

100pt players don't grow on trees. Marner is an elite impact player. He was the Leafs best player this season. Leafs could have addressed some of their weaknesses had they been able to trade Marner instead of having him walk for nothing. He had a NTC so Leafs management's hands were tied. Treliving tried to trade him for Rantanen at the deadline but Marner would not waive his clause.

Who should take the blame? Dubas for giving him that term with a NTC? Or Shanahan?

What star players don't get NTC? The OP is out of touch.

 

[Tie Domi Esquire]

Treliving arrived like the day Marner’s no trade kicked in. Shanahan made the poorly times GM change right when Marner needed to be traded. Wouldn’t be surprised if this is why Shanahan was fired

Good thing the team had plateaud since 2018, not rocket science to see what the problem was except to Shamascam, Dumbass, MLSE, and Treliving.

 

[MCR74]

People go on and on about Marner walking for nothing, but the truth is you'll win f*** all by paying him a $13M+ salary. Let some other team find out the hard way.

 

[The Hanging Jowl]

Has there ever been a time in history where a new GM was hired and traded the team’s superstar one month onto the job?

Probably not but that's why I said it would be a difficult thing to do. But it still would have been the right thing to do.

 

[ACC1224]

Probably not but that's why I said it would be a difficult thing to do. But it still would have been the right thing to do.

Nylander was the one to move to change things. Move the one way guy who shows a pulse half the time, not the high motor guy who plays all situations and puts up 20 more points.

 

[FerrisRox]

Stop saying shit. It was obvious Toronto wasn't going to trade Marner before the playoffs, especially given how good he looked at the 4Nations. But he didn't play as good as expected in the postseason again

Actually, he played *exactly* as expected in the postseason. Again.

 

[FerrisRox]

Treliving will be remembered for being the GM who lost Johnny Hockey, Tkachuk and Marner for nothing.

But Tkachuk was traded and the Flames received a package back in return.

 

[DuncanMacpherson]

Probably not but that's why I said it would be a difficult thing to do. But it still would have been the right thing to do.

We don’t even know if Shanahan would have let him trade Marner. All we do know is that Shanahan was in charge of the team when Marner’s trade deadline happened and we know he did a terribly timed GM change. I guess we can speculate all we want after that but those facts are enough for me to put most of the blame on him.

 

[NVious]

Button is a good example of how some of these old heads think, they are incapable of evaluating talent for what it is, there always needs to be some past comparison. Shanahan thought Matthews and co were Yzerman and co, forgetting Yzerman (Matthews) needed Shanahan (Tkachuk) and Lidstrom (Makar) who the Leafs don't have and aren't even remotely close to having. Here he talks about Hull who had 13 goals in a single playoffs (12 games) where Marner has 13 goals in70 playoff games.

The writing was on the wall in year 4 when Mitch had 0 goals and 4 assists in 5 games vs the Jackets which should never happen, he followed that up with an abysmal performance vs the Canadiens giving him 0 goals in 12 games, both series the Leafs should've easily won. After that it was more of the same no matter what the situation;

Finally get over the hump and win a round, get pumped by the Panthers
Ok next year, clearly better than the Bruins, Glassews sits outs, Nylander sits out, Marner no shows (Mitch could've been traded here, he still wasn't)
Ok it's totally over, somehow up 2-0 vs the reigning cup champs and up 3-1 in game 3, STILL BLOW IT and the series

Retrospectively, it's not even about trading Marner, all of them could've been traded as they're all flawed (Nylander with the worst two way games and most inconsistent, Matthews most injury prone, Marner the softest and worst goal scorer) and the team would've been better off.