Weren't people saying Marner is as good as (even heard "better than") Matthews? Then why is every AGM trying to trade him now? Did he go on a slump stint?

He was never better than Matthews. He is still a star player but the Leafs have too much money spent on forwards and need to reallocate money to defence. Plus he's slightly overpaid.

Why not trade him straight up for a defenseman? I find it odd to downgrade and grab picks along the way. Also, why him specifically as the odd man out?

Asset wise it's cheaper to sign players than to trade for them.

HIs contract has the worse value than Matthews and Nylander. Tavares is a centre and has a NTC. Next biggest contract is Kerfoot at 3.5M.

I wouldn't trade Matthews, Marner or Nylander. They have way too much upside, and Nylander is starting to show it. Unless you get back a young Roman Josi in return.

There are no Dmen available that will make as much of an impact as Marner does. If you were to trade him, this type of deal would be the way to go imo. However, there is no real need to trade Marner. What the Leafs need is an adequate blue line and for the whole team to commit to playing in their own end when they need to. To get that adequate blue line will not require a trade of one of the big 4 contracts, regardless of what people say when the Leafs are struggling.

Don't think the Flyers do the deal. They keep Konecky, and have 5.5m in cap space, plus don't give up those picks. This fascination with Dumba is getting ridiculous. Seems like the Wild for some reason have all these great Dmen....First it was Spurgeon to the Leafs, and now Brodin and Dumba. Plus Suter is still in their top four.

I tend to agree. I think it's possible to win with most of your chips on forwards. In fact, most cup-winning teams in recent memory didn't have an elite top-4, just one star D and many serviceable top-4. And as far as I can think, I don't remember any of the teams that overloaded on D winning (ex: Nashville in 18-19, Carolina, even Panthers). Toronto has Rielly and Muzzin as serviceable top-4. They're on the right track to have what they need in terms of pieces.

But cup-winning teams play as a team, defend as a team, check as a team, and I think that's what I see as missing. It can be coached, you've already got a great set of players to work with.

Not sure what you are thinking about trading Marner which makes no sense. Marner is a franchise player for the Leafs and not a chance the Leafs would trade him.

Lmao that Clifford contract

Clifford for 8 years eh?

Can't think of a team that is trading a "young Roman Josi" for any other than Matthews of those assets though...

People who actually knew what the **** they were talking about knew Matthews was far better than Marner. Most of the Marner is as good as mats talk came from other fanbases and casual fans.

Marner is as good and valuable as Matthews when you consider he also kills penalities and is relied on more than Matthews to shut down opposition forwards in games or at end of games. For every goal Matthews scores Marner has an assist and an assist is really just as valuable as a goal. Marner is also extremely popular with his teammates.

You can only sign Pietrangelo for 7 years, And he'll get closer to $10 million per.

Given this, wouldn't that be exactly the type of player TML needs to keep over, say, the also highly skilled Nylander?

To lower the AAV. The contract can be buried in the minors.



Yes Marner is better than Nylander but is he 4 million better? No.

I rather 2 Nylanders than a Marner and a Kerfoot.

Yaaa except players don’t sign those deals. It’s outrageous to think he would.

Who?

No actual NHL player is signing an 8 year 1 million dollar per season contract.