5 Offseason Trade Landing Spots for Maple Leafs Winger Mitch Marner

5 Offseason Trade Landing Spots for Maple Leafs Winger Mitch Marner0 of 5

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It’s not a real NHL offseason until the Toronto Maple Leafs have suffered another excruciating exit from the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Even though that’s become a customary occurrence, this year’s first-round defeat at the hands of the Boston Bruins comes with a twist.

A crushing 2-1 overtime loss in Game 7 Saturday night in Boston means changes are coming to the Leafs’ vaunted Core 4 of Auston Matthews, John Tavares, William Nylander and Mitch Marner.

The stars are aligned for the Leafs to shake things up and move on from Marner.

After Matthews’ and Nylander’s monster extensions, which kick in next year, Marner heads into the final season of his deal. The 26-year-old has a full no-move clause, and with unrestricted free agency awaiting him, it’s a less-than-ideal situation for the Leafs.

But where do you trade a star player in his prime with a $10.9 million salary-cap hit on an expiring deal? We’ve got some ideas, and no, it’s not just every other team in the league. We’re going to pick out the five best ones to think long and hard about.

Chicago Blackhawks1 of 5

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Chicago already has Connor Bedard as its biggest building block. He’s great, and there’s a really good chance he’ll win the Calder Trophy to become rookie of the year.

While the team is likely going to get another top-five draft pick this summer, and it’s got the second-best odds of winning the NHL draft lottery for the No. 1 pick and right to take Macklin Celebrini, it’s going to need more to become a playoff threat sooner than later.

Chicago has oodles of cap space, and taking on Marner’s $10.9 million hit wouldn’t be a problem. Asking him to play with Bedard and maybe Celebrini might be an easy sell for him to waive his no-move clause, and his all-around abilities to score points and defend well would go over huge in the Windy City.

Toronto, ideally, would land a No. 1 defenseman in any trade for Marner and, well, that’s not a hope that’s going to be fulfilled by Chicago. Moving Marner and taking on Seth Jones (who also has a no-move clause) and his $9.5 million cap hit through 2029-2030 is probably not going to work.

Moving prospects and/or a future first-round pick that should be pretty high, though? Maybe that gets the Leafs’ ears perked up.

Columbus Blue Jackets2 of 5

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The Columbus Blue Jackets are always looking for answers to help them turn things around and give their ultra-loyal fans a winning team to root for. Finding a way to add Marner would certainly go a long way toward doing that.

Marner would give the Jackets offense an extra boost and a player who can be dangerous on the other side of the puck as well, which separates him from guys like Johnny Gaudreau and Patrik Laine.

Columbus has up-and-coming players at forward such as Adam Fantilli, Kirill Marchenko and Kent Johnson along with prospect Luca Del Bel Belluz. There are also prospect defensemen like David Jiricek and Denton Mateychuk on the way up.

The Jackets have a lot of tantalizing younger players (who just happen to be cost-controlled) who the Maple Leafs would certainly have interest in (particularly Jiricek). But is there any chance Marner would OK a deal to Columbus?

It seems far-fetched he would approve it, but sometimes feelings change when a team says it would rather move you than make it work out with you.

Pittsburgh Penguins3 of 5

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The Pittsburgh Penguins have been agonizingly close to making the playoffs only to fall short the past two seasons. With the 36-year-old Sidney Crosby still playing brilliant hockey but not getting any younger and the rest of the Pens roster aging in front of our eyes, landing a great young player would do them a world of good.

The Penguins also famously have a former Maple Leafs general manager as their own GM in Kyle Dubas. If anyone knows Marner really well, it would be Dubas. And if there’s anyone who would know best how to potentially make a deal work with Toronto, it would be him.

After all, who would know the Leafs’ shortcomings better than the guy who was embedded with them for years? And besides, it was Dubas who signed Marner to the deal he’s currently on and will soon be expiring.

Having all that familiarity isn’t usually enough to get a deal to happen, but the need for Pittsburgh to add better, younger talent is there, and the need for the Leafs to change things up in the wake of yet another playoff failure is necessary.

Pittsburgh might not have the pieces needed to make a deal happen, and Marner might not even want to go to Pittsburgh. Although saying no to playing with Crosby would be very odd, especially in a contract year. This idea makes sense in the ether even if it doesn’t in reality.

St. Louis Blues4 of 5

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The St. Louis Blues got extremely close to a playoff spot this season, sort of out of nowhere. But one thing they’ve been lacking is an absolute point-scorer. Yes, they’ve got Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou, and they’re extremely good, but adding Marner to that group? That would alter the look in the Central Division a bit.

The Blues are in a spot where they could be consistent playoff contenders by building earnestly around Thomas and Kyrou. Brayden Schenn is a solid guy up front, and then there’s Pavel Buchnevich, who’s also got an expiring contract next year.

Huh…

A Buchnevich-for-Marner starting point makes sense, doesn’t it?

Toronto gets to bring back a 29-year-old scoring winger who (ideally) would be re-signed at a slightly more team-friendly rate, and the Blues would bring in a younger player who scores a pile of points but also plays strong defensively.

A deal like that wouldn’t be as simple as a one-for-one, and it certainly wouldn’t be easy considering Marner’s no-move clause and how he might not want to go to Missouri. But on paper, it feels like the kind of deal that would make everyone happy to some degree.

Utah5 of 5

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The Arizona Coyotes’ relocation to Utah changes the dynamic of how that roster will be managed.

No longer will they be the clearing house for soon-to-be retired players whose contracts and cap hits need new homes. The Smith Group ownership said it’s going to take care of the team in a real way, and it’s going to spend money and bring in more talent to surround the up-and-coming soon-to-be star players they’ve got in place.

Utah could also correct a draft slip-up from 2015 if it made the move to acquire Marner. The Coyotes could’ve selected Marner with the No. 3 pick in the 2015 draft, but they selected Dylan Strome there, while the Maple Leafs snagged Marner with the No. 4 pick.

Utah has the prospects, picks and roster players to put together a competitive package for Marner, and it would give the star an ideal blank canvas to work with in a brand-new market and a chance to show his skills to earn a lucrative long-term contract.

Considering Utah is going to pull out all the stops for the players in Salt Lake, it would be a curious decision if Marner invoked his no-move clause. But anything new and different can be scary, particularly when no one knows what to expect there, so there’s that.

Still, Marner to Utah would be the kind of splash move that would send the message that these are different times and that the franchise is very serious about winning as soon as possible.