Ex-NHL GM Links Mitch Marner to Western California Team in Upcoming Free Agency
A former Assistant GM for the Florida Panthers recently linked pending Maple Leafs free agent Mitch Marner to a rebuilding team as the leader of their new roster.
With all the talk regarding whether or not Mitch Marner is going to stick with the Maple Leafs, there's some potential that he could end up being the key part of a rebuilding team's offense, and going into the prime of his career and putting up some fantastic numbers, he could very well be the catalyst for a new era.
There's a lot of teams who would love to use his services, and teams like Chicago and the New York Islanders have been tossed around as suitors for the pending free agent.
He would no doubt help both teams either quickly get back to the playoffs (New York) or form a new dynamic duo with a budding superstar (Chicago).
However, according to former Florida Panthers Assistant GM Steve Werier, there's a surprise team who may come out and go all-in for the forward, and it's a team that Marner just found himself on the end of a shootout loss: San Jose.
The Sharks Are Smell Blood In The Water Come Free Agency
In an article written for PuckPedia, the former executive spoke about how the San Jose Sharks should approach the offseason and their rebuild.
With some very important pieces like Macklin Celebrini and William Eklund, Werier mentioned that they could go all-in this summer to make a big splash given their wealth of cap space:
I think there's two directions Grier can go from here.
The first is to fill out next year's roster with a bunch of lower tier veteran free agent and cap dumps from other clubs, farm for picks at another deadline, and hope to end up with another lottery pick and a shot at Gavin McKenna in the 2026 Draft.
That's conservative. It could work. It's boring.
The other direction is to go all in this summer and break open the competitive window right now, understanding that the best way to build around Celebrini & Smith is to add more players like Celebrini and Smith.
To do that the Sharks could attack on two fronts:
(1) sign a transformational free agent like Mitch Marner or Nikolaj Ehlers and (2) deploy an offer sheet with an AAV in the Wyatt Johnston range ($8M+) to lure an elite young player like JJ Peterka or Matthew Knies or a sneaky good RFA D in Winnipeg's Dylan Samberg to start building out the back-end.
The first is to fill out next year's roster with a bunch of lower tier veteran free agent and cap dumps from other clubs, farm for picks at another deadline, and hope to end up with another lottery pick and a shot at Gavin McKenna in the 2026 Draft.
That's conservative. It could work. It's boring.
The other direction is to go all in this summer and break open the competitive window right now, understanding that the best way to build around Celebrini & Smith is to add more players like Celebrini and Smith.
To do that the Sharks could attack on two fronts:
(1) sign a transformational free agent like Mitch Marner or Nikolaj Ehlers and (2) deploy an offer sheet with an AAV in the Wyatt Johnston range ($8M+) to lure an elite young player like JJ Peterka or Matthew Knies or a sneaky good RFA D in Winnipeg's Dylan Samberg to start building out the back-end.
It's very intriguing that not only does Marner's name appear but so does pending RFA Matthew Knies, another contract situation Toronto needs to figure out sooner than later.
Marner is going to be looking for at least $13M per season in his next deal, and with the Sharks already in a good spot financially with only a couple of names needing to be accounted for.
It's not going to be surprising to see Marner get a deal for seven or eight years worth at least $13M and could end up being a $14M player if he finishes strong and helps lead Toronto past the first round.
If anything, he's having yet another incredible season. While he was on pace to crush the 100-point mark, his production rate has taken a slight dip.
Marner is still putting up solid numbers though. In 71 games he has 89 points (22G, 67A), and needs to basically be a point-per-game player for the remainder of the season in order to crack the century mark though it's very possible, especially if he gets hot.
It's going to be an interesting summer, especially if Marner takes the Maple Leafs deep into the playoffs. However, it could be a very quick exit like in years past and it may be the end of the line for Marner in blue and white.
| POLL | ||
MARS 29 | 455 ANSWERS Ex-NHL GM Links Mitch Marner to Western California Team in Upcoming Free Agency Do you think the San Jose Sharks will field a competitive offer for Mitch Marner in free agency? | ||
| Yes | 315 | 69.2 % |
| No | 140 | 30.8 % |
| List of polls | ||
TRENDING NOW
