Leafs' Mitch Marner would be welcome in many NHL towns -- if he's really leaving Toronto (2024)

Forget hawking insurance, sports betting apps or cell phones, Mitch Marner might be wise to partner with an airline or travel site for his next endorsem*nt promotion.

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Because rampant speculation has the all-star right winger going just about everywhere on the National Hockey League map — if, of course, he waives his no-move clause with the Maple Leafs.

It seems everyone but Marner is citing irreconcilable differences with his draft team that will lead to a move out of town.

Much like departed coach Sheldon Keefe, who was pilloried for the latest in a string of poor playoff performances, Marner will find willing suitors if he and general manager Brad Treliving can’t reach accord on a new deal about a month away from when talks can commence on an extension.

Enough teams will salivate over Marner’s 1.11 points-per-game average to enter into serious trade talks and cross the less-sturdy playoff bridge (0.87 ppg) when the time comes.

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After eight years of being last off the ice in game-night warmups with Auston Matthews and first in the tunnel for high fives for each period, it’s a real possibility he bails on Bay Street, even with a cumbersome $10.9-million cap hit this coming season.

Will it be new digs? If so, here are some divergent destinations, in no particular order:

Pittsburgh Penguins

A year has passed since GM Kyle Dubas left Toronto to take the reins in Pittsburgh and people have wondered when he’ll bring one of his Toronto assets with him.

Dubas viewed Marner as a stanchion of the Core Four and, for better or worse, indulged him with a big contract and lots of off-ice freedom of expression.

However, the Pens, like the Leafs, have cap constraints caused by long-term deals for Erik Karlsson and Kris Letang, so any move here likely only works if draft picks and/or prospects come back or the Leafs are interested in picking up goalie Tristan Jarry’s next four years at $5.375 million as an alternative to UFA Ilya Samsonov.

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Beyond the Dubas connection, it would be a chance for Marner to play with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Crosby is known to elevate those around him.

Nashville Predators

This gained traction when the Preds moved defenceman Ryan McDonagh back to Tampa Bay, gaining a big cap relief of $6,750,000 in their pursuit of finding big names to match the offence of conference rivals Dallas, Edmonton, Colorado and Vancouver.

The apple of the Leafs’ eye — and many other clubs — is goalie Juuse Saros, who is in the same expiring-contract hitch as Marner, but is such an integral part of Nashville’s defensive posture.

Not that the Leafs wouldn’t like still-affordable defenceman Luke Schenn to reconsider them now that Craig Berube is coach and plans a heavier team, the same for Berube’s 2019 Stanley Cup lieutenant, forward Ryan O’Reilly.

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This scenario also is one that at least gets Marner out of the Eastern Conference for the Leafs, if the team is worried about backlash.

Chicago Blackhawks

Marner as a puck protagonist for Connor Bedard is intriguing, depending on how much Hawks management veers from its stated goal of restoring a competitive, nasty edge surrounding their prized 2023 first-overall selection.

This is where a defenceman coming back would have to be included and 29-year-old Seth Jones has long been mentioned in tandem with the Leafs, though much is sentimental chatter with his father having played for the Raptors.

Calgary Flames

This would only be reality if Marner preferred any move to be a Canadian destination and if the Jakob Markstrom situation should not get patched up this summer.

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The season ended awkwardly for the netminder, whose team shopped him to New Jersey at one point and subjected him to hearing other rumours when he had his own no-trade clause. He’s in the fourth of a six-year, $36-million contract, but has a couple of years registering save percentages over .900 without a playoff appearance.

He’s well known to Treliving from his Calgary days.

Utah

GM Bill Armstrong’s salary cap largesse, which could make him a force this summer among his peers in free agency, might also be spent on acquiring a major talent such as Marner via a swap. An instant big-name name player for a team without a name.

Granted, there isn’t a lot on Salt Lake City’s roster that would be made available for the Leafs as far as impact players, though they could snare picks and recoup defenceman Sean Durzi, whom they let get away to Los Angeles.

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For Marner, these transplanted Arizona Coyotes wouldn’t exactly guarantee a playoff spot which he’s enjoyed as a Leaf since 2017.

Toronto Maple Leafs

This is Marner’s home, where his revered charitable foundation is based and his sweater is spotted on the streets second only to Matthews.

Thus, wecan see the petulance he sometimes displays in the media being channeled differently, an ‘I’ll-show-you’ attitude, using his control of the situation, sticking this year out to prove his critics that he’s not pampered and will take a yeoman role if asked by Berube in regular season or playoffs.

The two already have met and, at the very least, understand more about each other’s feelings.

Berube has admirable plans to change team chemistry by next spring, but knows he has to get there first and can’t be callous with a potential hundred-point right winger who can kill penalties, among other extracurriculars.

Whether Marner and his advisers would take anything less in a new Leafs deal than what they project his true value to be is another matter.

lhornby@postmedia.com

X: @sunhornby

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