NEWSLETTER
As we continue to add teams to the “offseason” one playoff elimination at a time, the talk about what teams need to do to improve and win a championship will become more specific — and more intense. And no market loves to stir the pot in search of an elusive title more than Toronto. So, in the wake of an overtime Game 7 loss over the weekend, Leafs Nation is on fire.
Elliott Friedman and Jeff Marek shared a bunch of thoughts on the untimely end of the Toronto season in their Monday edition of the “32 Thoughts” Podcast, and a few things that came up are noteworthy.
Mitch Marner’s Future
The big name everyone keeps talking about in Toronto (as a guy who might leave) is Mitch Marner, who has one year remaining on his contract with a heavy cap hit ($10.903M). This snippet from Friedman was particularly interesting:
The Leafs met with the media to close the books on their season on Monday and here’s what Mitch Marner said about wanting to stay in Toronto long term:
On their podcast, Friedman and Marek also talked about how desperate Toronto is to fix their blue line.
Former Blackhawks Jake McCabe (who was traded to Toronto with Sam Lafferty for a nice package last year before the deadline) is a guy they said Toronto loves and wants to keep in the room and on their back end. And they should; he’s the right kinda guy for their team.
What About Seth Jones?
But they also mention that IF Mitch Marner does decide to waive his NMC and is made available, the Leafs would want to add to their blue line in any deal. And then, you guessed it, Friedman inserts the “I wonder if the Leafs would be interested in Seth Jones?” thought bubble. So we can go ahead and ramp all of that conversation back up.
So … there’s still buzz about a Jones fit in Toronto and Mitch Marner being a guy the team looks to move on from to make financial room to improve their back end. It feels like this is going to be something that’s going to generate smoke until the middle of July when the dust starts to settle from free agency.
My two cents: Jones has a no-move clause in his contract and, given the level of scrutiny in the Toronto market, I’m not sure he wants to go there with the expectations of being “the guy” to solve their defense. And, frankly, I’m not sure the Leafs want to commit $9.5M to a defenseman for that many years into the future when Marner could, in theory, take his $10.903M off their books as a UFA after next season.
That being said, if Mitch Marner does become available, I do believe there will be a market for him. There should be. The whole “playoff ghost” talk is garbage that’s being bought from reading what people say about a guy who, as Friedman said, hasn’t had a “moment” in the playoffs but still has 50 points in 57 career postseason appearances. He’s a really good player. And, if the Blackhawks pursued him in free agency next summer, I would not be angry.
Trading Jones for Mitch Marner now raises a lot of questions for both organizations that I don’t think either front office would be excited to try to solve immediately. But Marner being a guy who interests the Blackhawks at some point doesn’t feel crazy, and I would be on board if that happened somehow.
