Mitch Marner is potentially on his way out of Toronto. Should the Capitals put together a package for the Maple Leafs winger?
The Toronto Maple Leafs suffered another early playoff exit earlier this month at the hands of their hated rivals, the Boston Bruins. Toronto has not made a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals since 2002 and their latest loss has led to rumors of a full upheaval of the team’s present core.
Head coach Sheldon Keefe was already fired and replaced with Craig Berube. Now attention seems to have focused on star winger Mitch Marner.
The Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli believes there is a single-digit percent chance Marner is still playing for Toronto come October. Now, TSN’s Pierre LeBrun shared his opinion that teams will soon be calling the Maple Leafs about Marner.
“Just FYI, it’s my understanding as of this moment that the Maple Leafs have not spoken to a single team about Mitch Marner,” LeBrun tweeted Tuesday. “The Leafs were focused on the coaching situation which they’ve handled now. But there hasn’t been any trade conversations regarding Marner. Obviously we’ll see how the next two months play out, no doubt teams will come calling the Leafs on him closer to the draft next month.”
Marner, the team’s first-round selection in the 2015 draft, is heading into the final year of a six-year contract he signed before the 2019-20 campaign. He is the lone member of the team’s core, outside of the veteran John Tavares, not to sign a long-term extension with Toronto, making him the most likely to be on the move.
The 27-year-old winger had another productive season for the Maple Leafs, amassing 85 points (26g, 59a) in 69 games. However, Marner’s playoff production was lower than in past years, stoking rumors about a potential trade out of Toronto.
Marner’s current deal sees him paid a shade over $10.9 million against the cap. He will be eligible for extension talks this summer and most likely be in line for a raise despite how his 2023-24 season ended. The salary cap is set to increase by $4.2 million and players like Marner with three career 90-point seasons don’t grow on trees.
The Maple Leafs gave Marner a full no-move clause in his contract so he will have the final say on where he ends up if he is traded. The clause could limit the return Toronto potentially nets as Marner and his agent will determine the market’s size. However, any package will still need to be enough for the Maple Leafs to not just run it back with Marner next season.
The Washington Capitals could theoretically be a potential Marner landing spot depending on how he feels about the club. Washington will have plenty of cap space next season to fit a big salary and the Caps also have stockpiled a good amount of draft capital. The Caps also have a few young, NHL-ready players on their roster that could help Toronto transition away from Marner.
Marner would immediately jump to the top of Washington’s lineup on the right wing. The Capitals will likely see wingers Max Pacioretty and Nicolas Aube-Kubel depart in free agency and there are big question marks surrounding TJ Oshie’s future. Tom Wilson is the only player certainly cemented in on the right side of the team’s roster next year.
Adding a high-end talent like Marner would boost Alex Ovechkin’s chase of Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals record as he’s a highly-skilled playmaker who has more assists than goals in every season he’s played in the NHL. Marner’s single-season, career-low in assists is the 42 he amassed during his rookie year which would have tied John Carlson for the Capitals’ team lead last year.
The Ontario native ranks sixth in the NHL in assists (445) since his 2016-17 rookie campaign. He is third among wingers, behind just Nikita Kucherov (472) and Artemi Panarin (469).
