Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate said:
All the trade scenarios run through by MLHS have the Leafs losing the trade. Like, not even close. It's literally insane.
However, given his salary and upcoming contract negotiation, I don?t think we?ll see anyone who finished even inside the top 30 of league scoring this past season traded straight up for Marner this summer.
Read the tea leaves any way you like, and push your agenda however you wish, but the Leafs are going to lose a Marner trade.
Last year, Treliving declared re-signing both Matthews & Nylander were very important.
Since signing Nylander, Treliving said they looked at trading Nylander but didn't like the return.
This year, Treliving did not make the same declaration about Marner. As a result, we have 100 fold trade rumours and all kinds of daily media on why Marner is garbage - why the Leafs would do such a thing, etc. That will now be perceived by the fans, media & ownership of the GM who might have considered trading for him.
Getting rid of a "star" is a sign of (cap) desperation that devalues the "star" asset as the expendable "star" -
'some one we don't have to have to win a Cup ...'.
So Treliving has been successful in devaluing the asset he wants to trade.
When it comes to UFA time, Marner's agent will not hesitate to remind Treliving of that when Treliving asks for a hometown discount. "No Brad, you can bid for him like everyone else"
About 20-25% of the league has a NMC or a full NTC. The vast majority of those are held by the top players in the league. So right there, it gets very difficult to expect one of those players in return. You have two parties who have to give up that clause.
Look at the various moves teams are making to make cap space. ie buying out Suter to get another $1.4 mil. You have to do some serious heavy lifting to make cap room for $10.9 mil now and beyond that next year when all your big contracts have NMC/NTCs.
You look at the Leafs present cap situation & roster. You can easily see that they cannot do all the changes they would like to do in one season. It will take this year?s cap space plus next years. It underscores Marner's selling party's desperation: trading from a position of weakness.
Then look at Marner's NMC. Is he going to suddenly approve all NHL destinations? No. Best case, if any, is a very small handful of destinations - like 4. So why do the other 27 teams and the rest of the hockey world & media need to know? Love to hear Brad's answer to Marner's agent on that one.
And yesterday, Treliving was whining about not being able to respond to all the media noise ... when he hypocritically had a very significant hand in turning up the widespread volume ...
To me, the stupidity of how Treliving has handled this is beyond words.
Why couldn't he handle it discretely like he did Nylander - who didn't have a NMC?
They had almost no chance of getting an equivalent talent return for Marner. They learned that when they tried to move Nylander. They cemented that with the gong show way they handled it. Discretion is the better part of valour.
People do things for a reason. Treliving is confronted with not being able to change the roster enough for next spring. The brunt of that circumstance is not his fault.
