Team: 2022-23 Toronto Maple Leafs

Initial Creation Date: May 18, 2023

Published: May 18, 2023

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Okay, so full transparency, I know the probability of the exact detailing of this trade and it happening is slim to none, but I think if Toronto is to trade Marner, it would be best to maybe use him as leverage in the draft. I do think Marner would benefit a lot from being in the company of Crosby and his Penguins, but this proposal isn't necessarily to suggest that this is exactly how it should go, or that this is how I believe it should go. I only think that the concept of this is how a Marner trade should be executed. Toronto adds more options to their roster while the other teams involved benefit from the runoff of the trade. Pittsburgh would have the benefit of having Marner, a Selke finalist and a perennially elite two-way player, and St. Louis would end up with selections 14, 25, 28, and anywhere between 30-32 (depending on when Dallas' season ends). St. Louis could use all four picks in one of the deepest drafts we've experienced, or they could flip them to leapfrog higher in the selection order. The point that I ultimately want to make, if none of this makes any sense, is that the future is a dangerously unwritten entity. It could become a massive dumpster fire tomorrow, or the next day, or it's nothing but rainbows and sunshine some other time. Why GM's do what they do is like asking "why is the sky blue?" or "why does fish smell fishy?" What's the point in making detail-specific speculation when there's no real truth or fact to back it up? That's why I believe in the prospect of this trade, and not so much the finite details.

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