(Warning: This turned into long rant. Apologies.)
Why are we reading about the Leafs running it back again? MLSE can force Marner’s hand, despite his NMC, by committing to playing hardball with agent ahead of the upcoming season. If Leafs are to get any return for Marner and still be prepared for the 2025 playoffs a trade would need to happen well before deadline, but this summer is ideal—possibly working out a sign-and-trade. And while Berube might be able to change things for the better, one would think this necessary change would click more effectively without the same exact personalities, friendships and inter-team dynamics in the room.
Marner is an excellent player. I’m not saying he lacks character. But the kind of adversity required for a boy to become a man is seemingly eluding him. It’s often adversity that does this. Overcoming a loss, a heartbreak, a monumental challenge. Fatherhood can do the same.
But getting what you want, year in and year out—while feeling like a “God” no less, will not give this player the tools he needs to take the next step to become the best he can be. He gets too much validation from winning when it’s easy.
So Leaf’s management are going to play wait-and-see-what-Mitch-wants again? Sure, maybe they did the same in the past year but Matthews and Nylander are different. Marner’s as a person, and his relationship to the team is different. Can’t help but feel the time is now for MLSE to send the message, change the culture, own the media—versus worrying about how it might cost them their job—and make it clear to the agent that Marner should embrace the start of next era of his career one year early. Get a list of teams, a list of terms/options and begin the process of shopping one of the best wingers in the league, giving another GM the chance to give back too much value in order to sign the better player and ultimately “win the trade” with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
5 comments
Media takes information from Leaf sources and Marner sources. It presents information and survives on access/clicks.
Unless you’re in the room, you don’t know shit, and it’s best to treat every bit of news as sport
Here is how that conversation will go – “Mitch, we’d would like to move on and trade you.” Mitch: “I’m good, I have a NMC”. Leafs management hands are now tied.
Management can request a list, but he doesn’t have to provide one. I often see a solution to extract a trade list by making his life difficult; however, It’s extremely bad business to tell your employee you’re going to make his life difficult while at work. If that happened, good luck signing another UFA any time this decade, like do fans understand you cannot run the team like a immature teenager?
Blame who you would like, but Mitch has trade protection and he has all the offseason control. You can control his minutes and special teams time, but you don’t say you’re going to do that before doing it. Our fanbase needs to accept that there is absolutely nothing we can do if our players choose not to waive. Lol, we talk about how management can’t run it back, like they have a choice. Next year is when we have flexibility, right now we have none.
That’s a lot of words to say they need to fix or move him and might not be able to do either.
Why would you rather trade Marner vs Tavares?
People should get used to the idea that Marner may be here next season and even beyond.