Marner Return

0 jets wouldn't trade for him unless it's a great deal for him (wheeler, heinola and a 2nd). So since I know that deal won't get him there's no deal to be made whatsoever

Anaheim wouldn't be interested because our window will be opening the season following his departure.

I'll give you Henrique, Comtois RFA rights, Simon Benoit's RFA rights, one of Sam Colangelo or Brayden Tracey, and one of COL or BOS 2023 2nds.

No firsts, no member of the young core, no top prospects.

Based on how his previous contract negotiation went, and the NMC that kicks in before he is able to negotiate said contract extension, I have zero confidence that he will negotiate in good faith, and should he decide to (more than likely) test free agency and doesn't decide to waive his NMC, Anaheim will be left with nothing in the end. Yeah, we will have had 2 seasons of Marner, but with us just having bottomed out, we won't be in a position to utilize him in the next two seasons.

I'm also of the opinion that while Marner is a great player, his stats benefit hugely from playing with Matthews. Take Matthews out of the equation and he's probably a 70+ point player still earning ~11 million against the cap. We could easily end up in a Huberdeau situation.

Anaheim - likely doesn’t have the pieces to get a deal done. Besides their big boys like Zegras and Drysdale, there’s not much that would interest Toronto and the Ducks aren’t in the position to be swapping one of those guys for Marner.

Arizona - no interest from the Yotes. Marner doesn’t fit their timeline and unless they think it’s a strategy to convince Matthews to sign there next summer, it doesn’t make any sense. Even then they don’t have the money to be paying Marner or Matthews and they have to worry about where they’re gonna be playing before they worry about acquiring a superstar.

Seattle - might be a stretch to get them involved. They’re a well balanced team that could use a superstar but they don’t seem like the team to make a big splash and more of a developer. But IF they did, you’d have to think it’d be something like McCann, Wright, Evans, and a pick.. which is a pretty fair return but idk how high Leafs management would be on Wright due to his lack of footspeed and attitude issues. Could be worth exploring though.

Winnipeg - no interest from the Jets. They’re looking at a full rebuild and acquiring a guy like Marner doesn’t do much for them with what they’d have to pay. It’s be a lateral move that just sets the rebuild back further.

2 things here I think you should know..

1. Let’s be real, that offer you listed isn’t much. If the offer doesn’t start with a 1st and a top prospect ready to crack the NHL or a young roster player - it doesn’t catch Toronto’s attention. While I don’t think Anaheim would be smart to get Marner, saying he’s not worth it based on a speculative future issue with a contract issue is absurd. Maybe Marner would love Anaheim, maybe he wouldn’t. But what you can’t judge that from knowing nothing about it. Marner’s negotiations prior were tough because of Babcock. There was friction between the player and his dad with the coach. That happens quite frequently actually (minus the parents involved) but you don’t hear about it because it’s not in Toronto - their media blows everything out of proportion.

2. I’m not sure how much you watch Marner or the Leafs but saying he’s be a 70 point player without Matthews is far from true. It’s closer to the other way around - Marner is the engine on the Leafs. When he’a going, the teams going. Their PP runs through Marner, not Matthews. And the team has even played without Matthews before because of injury and Marner still produced. There’s a reason why Marner is the guy moved around the lineup when the team needs a jump start - because Marner is the spark. He’s the guy that got Tavares going when needed. He got O’Rielly going when he came in. He gets Matthews open looks. & in playoffs when Matthews didn’t score… Marner did. So saying he’s not as productive without Matthews just isn’t true.