In fact, we are in the NHL’s silly season.
The time of year when a CEO like Barry Trotz is asked point-blank about Mitch Marner at a local media session.
And don’t get me wrong, I love it when a journalist asks. There is no bad question. You never know what you’ll get in response! I am the king of stupid questions. As a tip to young sportswriters, some of my so-called stupid questions over the years have gotten the best answers from general managers, coaches and players.
But in this case, Trotz essentially laughed.
Believe me, Trotz has seen the speculation linking his Nashville Predators to Marner. He knows what they say out there.
But as he said Tuesday, and has been confirmed by other league sources, the Predators and Toronto Maple Leafs have not discussed a Marner trade.
In fact, the Leafs as of Tuesday had not spoken to any team about a Marner trade.
And I guess this is where we add “yet.”
Leafs GM Brad Treliving has focused solely on his decision, process and coaching hire, and now that Craig Berube is in place, there are scouting meetings for the Leafs front office this week.
GO DEEPER
In a franchise-altering summer for the Maple Leafs, Craig Berube should be the right hire
But yes, at some point we could start to hear legitimate speculation about the conversations Treliving is having around the league. That typically heats up closer to the Draft in late June in Las Vegas.
Even then, there’s no guarantee anything will happen with Marner this summer.
This is not currently a situation like Matthew Tkachuk’s two years ago, when Tkachuk’s camp presented Treliving, then general manager of the Calgary Flames, with a list of five or six teams he would accept a trade with, which led to the Florida Panthers. The Carolina Hurricanes fight for Tkachuk and you know the rest.
At this point, the Marner camp led by veteran agent Darren Ferris is not working on a roster of teams. At the moment they have no intention of preparing such a list. As far as Marner’s camp is concerned, the star winger has one year left on his contract with the Leafs and intends to see it through.
From what I can tell right now, this is all about the Leafs coming to Marner this summer (if anything), and not the other way around.
Marner holds most of the cards with his 100 percent no-movement clause, which went into effect on July 1.
And whatever happens or doesn’t happen on the Marner front, just remember that last June (not this June) would have been the most logical window to conduct a real bidding war for the 16th spot if that’s something you the Leafs wanted to do.
But the dramatic divorce between Kyle Dubas and Brendan Shanahan meant that that wasn’t the focus at the time. I don’t care what anyone says, there isn’t a GM alive who, after being hired in late May like Treliving was, would have felt comfortable trading a young, center-backed, star player a couple of weeks into his tenure. . Of course, Treliving’s natural inclination was to want to meet Marner and get a feel for this whole Core 4 situation in his first season as GM. That is a reasonable course of action.
Except July 1 came and went last year and well, now, again, Marner holds most, if not all, of the cards.
The only way a Marner bidding war would have happened last June is if Shanahan had made him Treliving’s top priority upon being hired and, well, we know that wasn’t the case.
Here we are. The rumors are already in full force. Somehow, the Marner-to-Nashville rumor has become a “thing.” Although the teams have not spoken.
But one can understand the theoretical meaning of all this.
At first glance, it makes sense from the standpoint of the Predators wanting to improve offensively if they can this summer.
The fly in the ointment: Any team that approaches the Leafs this summer about a Marner trade won’t do so without knowing they can sign him to an extension as part of the deal. It would be more than surprising if a single team was willing to propose a trade with Marner signed for just 12 months before becoming an unrestricted free agent.
Let’s go back to Nashville for a moment. Filip Forsberg earns $8.5 million per season and is coming off a 48-goal, 94-point campaign. Marner earns $10.9 million and is coming off a regular season of 26 goals and 85 points, albeit in 69 games.
They are both great players. But what I’m pointing out is the Predators’ carefully curated salary cap culture, where the top earner is perennial Norris Trophy contender Roman Josi at $9.059 million.
So, for starters, if we want to linger and see that this theoretical Marner to Nashville trade actually has teeth, one has to imagine that he would be willing to take a pay cut as part of an extension to fit into Nashville’s landscape. And I mean, Nashville is one of those markets without state income taxes, so who knows? But it seems…unlikely?
Listen, I understand the Nashville speculation as fun game theory. The Predators need offense, and could be willing to accept offers for star goalie Juuse Saros (who also has one year left on his contract) with 2020 first-round pick Yaroslav Askarov, who has played two full seasons in the AHL Milwaukee and is apparently ready to make the jump.
A Saros-Joseph Woll duo at the net in Toronto is a sexy idea. And I think it’s very true that the Leafs want to go big-hunting to find a high-level goaltender to help young Woll. Is Treliving trying to rekindle things with Calgary’s Jacob Markstrom? I wouldn’t be surprised.
Of course, there is also a world where the Predators keep Saros. My understanding is that Trotz’s current plan is to try to sign Saros to an extension if he can make the money work. There’s always a world where Saros and Askarov share the net for a while, no different than how a young Saros shared the net with veteran franchise goalie Pekka Rinne for five seasons.
If the talks with Saros don’t go well… that’s where it gets interesting.
Once again, you understand why the Nashville ideas started when it comes to Marner and Toronto.
But I go back to what a Marner extension would look like and I’m having a hard time fitting that into the Predators’ cap culture.
And why does Marner have to sign an extension with any team, even Toronto, this summer? William Nylander didn’t sign his extension until January of this year. Marner also has the right to wait for this to happen if he so wishes. He has negotiated that right. No one should begrudge him that if that really happened. Mats Sundin on Line 1.
There’s no guarantee Marner is going anywhere. My feeling right now is that the Leafs front office has not committed to trading Marner and, again, he holds the cards if the team wants to go in that direction.
That doesn’t mean it won’t happen, of course. A lot of that will depend on the teams calling and what those teams are willing to offer.
In any case, Marner’s story has the potential to take several different paths, and it’s too soon to see which one is most likely. Not that that stops anyone from asking questions in a silly season.
(Photo: Nick Turchiaro / USA Today)
Keynote USA
For the Latest Sports News, Follow @Keynote USA Sports on Twitter.