Mitch Marner to blame

It’s obvious to me that Mitch Marner’s love for Toronto will eventually kill the Maple Leafs. Do you know what I mean?

Every off-season following a resounding playoff failure, it can be argued that Marner should theoretically have been the one traded, from a hockey point of view, to shake things up and get a nice value on the trade market.

He never wanted to. He loves Toronto so much, he’ll end up killing his childhood team.

There’s no denying it in Toronto: IT’S NOT WORKING. Whatever the reason, whoever the culprit: IT ‘S NOT WORKING.

And the Maple Leafs GM’s worst enemy in any quest for improvement… is Mitch Marner. A guy who refuses to leave Ontario, probably to the detriment of his club’s chances of winning a championship. Does he think he’s not the problem?

If Marner ends up leaving the organization for free this summer, and turning down the Hurricanes’ deal was more a way of giving themselves more options, and some leverage in future negotiations, it will be a disaster for the Leafs, who won’t have been able to benefit from his market value.

Even if they were to trade his negotiating rights for a pick, it would be nothing short of catastrophic. And let’s face it, Jake Guentzel’s rights cost the Lightning a third-round pick last summer.

But do you know what’s worse?

If Mitch Marner were to sign a new $12-13 million contract in Toronto, and inevitably get another no-trade clause… I’m not sure it wouldn’t be catastrophic for the franchise. And I think the fans would be delighted.

The reality is that a general manager in Toronto is handcuffed with a player of enormous value. What do you expect him to do?

Some might blame Brendan Shanahan, who gave him the no-movement clause, and fired Kyle Dubas when it looked like Dubas was going to trade Marner before the clause took effect. I’d understand, up to a point. You can’t have one without the other.

Some will refuse to blame Mitch Marner, who may have been right to believe it.

I’ll tell you that the result is the same.

Extension

Leafs star has good playoff stats. Until you realize that his production in games #1 to #4 (52 points in 44 games) is incomparable to his production in games #5 to #7 (10 points in 24 games).

The story is told from two perspectives, and the more important one is far from rosy.