One of the most-discussed topics of the NHL offseason has been which team Mitch Marner will ultimately play for in 2024.
The 27-year-old forward has one year left on his deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs, and he carries a $10.93 million cap hit.
Many have speculated that the Leafs could look to move Marner and recoup something for him before he hits unrestricted free agency next summer, and during an appearance on “Leafs Morning Take” on Tuesday, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman suggested the Vegas Golden Knights could be a dark-horse contender to land Marner via trade.
“One of the things with Marner is that a lot of people suspect that Vegas will be around it,” Friedman said. “Because Vegas is just smart, they are around any good player. So I got people hypothesizing Shea Theodore and Logan Thompson deals to me, for example.”
The Golden Knights are no stranger to making blockbuster trades.
Four of the top players on their current roster — Jack Eichel, Tomas Hertl, Mark Stone and Noah Hanifin — were all acquired via trade, and going all-in on landing a high-caliber player like Marner is right in their wheelhouse.
Any deal for Marner would likely cost a few of Vegas’ top prospects, draft picks and one or two good roster players. The Golden Knights dealt top prospect David Edstrom to San Jose at the trade deadline in March for Hertl, but any of their No. 2-5 prospects could be in play.
A trade centered around either Shea Theodore, 28, who’s arguably Vegas’ top defenseman, or Logan Thompson, 27, who’s arguably the team’s top goaltender, plus one or two of Lukas Cormier (No. 2 prospect), Brendan Brisson (No. 3 prospect), Mathieu Cataford (No. 4 prospect) or Carl Lindbom (No. 5 prospect) and Vegas’ 2024 first-rounder (No. 19 overall) and a second-rounder in 2025 or 2026 could get the conversation started.
There’s also the possibility that the Maple Leafs choose to extend Marner instead of trade him. He has 194 goals and 639 points since his rookie season in 2016, ranking 10th in the NHL in scoring over that span, so his next deal won’t be cheap.
The question Toronto has to answer is, is the front office comfortable having four players making $11M per year or more?
About The Author
Leave a Reply