If we're going to move Marner it's not going to be for an extremely streaky goal scorer as that's not what we need we need RHD

At bare minimum another right handed winger with vision.

I dont know he could be on to something, Laine will be cheaper and the Leafs have plenty of playmakers to make up for the loss of Marner. I'd consider a move like this if Laine sighed a 8x9 deal and I think he would look excellent next to Tavares on our 2nd line.

Our defense is always going to be an Achilles heel of this team, doesn't mean we can't keep a stacked offense

For sure

Since entering the NHL 3 seasons ago your #5 and #6 Goal scorers overall in the NHL

Mathews in 3 season 111 goals
Laine in 3 seasons 110 goals

TML fans logic

Mathews is God
Laine is streaky

If you think the Leafs would trade Marner for Laine you might be interested in some swamp land in Florida. Marner is twice the player that Laine can even hope for in his best dreams. He lead the Leafs in scoring the last 2 years and would have lead the Leafs in his 1rst year which is off the charts if he did not miss some games because of health issues. The Leafs have been waiting for over a generation to draft a player like Marner from Ontario and you want to trade him off which makes no sense when you consider that Laine is a one dimentional goal scorer who has no other attributes.

Yet they don't want to pay him...

How many assist do they both have? One is reliable centerman who can do it all, the other is onedimensional goalscorer.. How many games did they play? What is Laine's 5v5 production and contribution compared to Matthews? There is a lot more to it then just goals.. not saying Matthews is god, but he is one of the best players in the league. And Laine is streaky, but he is amazing goalscorer when he puts it on.

30 games difference between Daniel and Henrik Sedin with a 29 point differential
25 games difference between Laine and Mathews with a 21 point differential

would you argue that Henrik was that much better then Daniel ?
no because common sense says that's just silly .

the difference between Laine and Mathews is the ability to take faceoffs
both are dominant goal scorers
its an added bonus for sure but it doesnt suddenly make the gap between talent as wide as Ovechkin vs Malkin in their Draft

Henrik was the better player there. He could play with anybody anytime and he wasnt a goalscorer so gap is much lesser. If Henrik scored at same rate as Daniel and had all the things he had, he would be considered much better player,

Matthews and Laine is quite different. Auston started to put up assists at similar rate to goals in last year, he was making plays for his linemates who were really uncreative. He played with 3rd liners and scored almost 40 goals. Laine cannot pass for his life. And Im not saying Laine is bad. In couple of years Laine might be the best goalscorer on the planet. But now even in his greatest thing he isnt as good as Matthews. And Matthews has defensive responsibilities as centerman, takes faceoffs, can play with anybody, passes the puck a lot more than before and still dominates in scoring goals. Matthews is much better than Laine and let me be honest.. Laine can become the best goalscorer of our generations. He has ALL the tools to do so, but Matthews' goalscoring is on same level as Laines and other things in his game are better or much better than laine's.

To your example of daniel and henrik. If Henrik scored as much as Daniel but had all the other things he had, who would you considered much better player? Henrik. Easy as that.

thanks for proving my point
stick to the fantasy leagues bud
business is about supply vs demand something you dont get

as Mathews becomes more of a well rounded Center he goes from leading the team in goals to rising from 7th to 4th in assists over 3 years .
Laine's lead a stacked WPG jets leading them in goals 2/3 which is impressive given the talent he's surrounded by

Centers are hard to find but not impossible as seen with TML scooping up Tavares
Laine on the other hand is an elite goal scoring winger with size and speed who's younger then Mathews

Finding 30-40 goal scorers isnt as common as people pretend
finding them capable of 3 straight seasons consistently of it before turning 21 is even more rare
teams can develop a Bergeron or Oreilly from deeper in the draft but finding elite goal scorers capable of 40+ goals is ultra rare outside the top 3 picks

Mathews will be leaving but not before TML makes a profit as they have Tavares , Marner , Kappanen and Nylander so if they can use Mathews to land a package of value
like lets say Domi , Norlinder , 1st in 2020 , 1st in 2021 , 2nd in 2020 . TML would have to think about it as they're getting two 1sts ,2nd and a solid D prospect .
the selling point would be adding Domi's name to TML jersey and playing him along side Tavares on LW or on 2nd line Center behind him .

MTL gets there 3 year window for this core to win a cup in tact with Gallagher ,Weber and Price .
its unlike Mathews re-signs as its likely he'll return home to ARZ to build up the sport there but we can
use that and trade him just before his final year for a healthy return .


not saying i'd do it but that's what it would take in my opinion

I dont even play fantasy leagues lol. What point? Your point was that Matthews is just slightly better than Laine which is BS. Matthews' goalscoring is on same level as Laine's and he is levels better in everything else was my point. Matthews >>>> Laine, and Laine is unbelievable.

Its harder to find elite centerman like Matthews than goalscoring wingers like Laine. Matthews can do it all and is as good in scoring goals. If Matthews playedin same amount of games as Laine did he would have 124 goals before turning 22yrs of age, if he played 3 full seasons, he would have 129 goals which is 43 goals in average! Matthews is one of the best players in the league. So is Laine but Laine has a lot of work to do. Laine is surrounded by great talent, but he doesnt score consistently and with everybody like Auston. Matthews played most of the year with Kapanen, Johnsson and some parts of the year with Marleau and Ennis.

I dont wanna argue much but what you described is basically why Matthews is one of the rarest players on the planet. One of the top-3/top-5 goalscorers in the league before turning 22 and still well rounded enough that he gets assists and has solid two-way game and can play with anybody and stay productive with whoever he is on line with.

supply vs demand is correct. And there isnt supply of that talented centermen as Matthews and demand for them is immense.

Matthews is not gonna leave ****. Stop with that crap.