Once a Kings Fan Too
Joined: Jun. 2018
Posts: 41,647
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Marner trades are speculative to the point of mootness because we can't tell, and nobody knows, whether we're getting one season of Mitch Marner or seven, so this is idle and meaningless conjecture.
Anaheim projects that five of the top 6 forward positions are set for the near future: Zegras and Gauthier at LW, Carlsson and McTavish at C, and Terry at RW. Marner would obviously be a nice sixth, but we've seen absolutely no reason to believe that he would sign a long-term contract in Southern California. One season of Marner does us no good because there's no chance that adding him would make the Ducks a playoff team in 2025 -- the Ducks finished TWENTY GAMES out of the playoffs this year, and Mitch isn't going to overcome that. And the idea that the Ducks would retain on anyone going out in a Marner trade while taking his $10.9 million cap hit off Toronto's hands is just silly. Moreover, Anaheim will want Toronto to pay Marner's $7.25 million signing bonus, so there won't be any 2024 draft picks in the deal. Finally, the roster disruption caused by trading those three particular players would be overly burdensome.