Knies Matthews Domi
McMann Tavares Nylander
Robertson Bennett Marchand
Lorentz Laughton Holmberg
-gravyface
Knies @ 7×3 | Matthews | Marner @ 13.16×8
R. Smith @ 4.25×3 | Jenner @ 3.75×1 | Nylander
Domi | McBain @ 3.5×3 | B. Tanev @ 1.75×2 (or Corey Perry)
Laughton | Blueger @ 1.8×1 | Lorentz @ 1×1
Comtois @ 850 (or Pacioretty if he doesn’t retire)
OEL | Tanev
McCabe | T. Myers
Burns @ 2×1* | Carlo
Benoit
*(if he doesn’t retire, hometown guy because he’s from Barrie. Could be the ultimate utility player as both a 7th D and a 13th forward.)
There’s actually a long list of horrible options. Marner is by far the best of all the options and if your goal is to win a Cup, they must resign Marner.
Let’s go one by one through what would be top-six forwards and give you the reasons why the majority on this list are either garbage, not better or won’t sign with the Leafs.
For starters, Boeser is horrid. -25 player who deserves his -25. He was a 50 point player last year, only made the playoffs twice in his career. This guy is like a less athletic, Value Village Kessel.
Ehlers, not leaving Winnipeg, soft as baby shit, not a playoff performer, not a 100 point, Selke nominee, PKer. Most of his playoff runs ended with 0 goals. This guy is Value Village Nylander.
Tavares. Is. Garbage. 7 years of his prime, he can’t skate, he can’t defend and he didn’t score in 6 out of 7 games against the Panthers. This guy was the definition of bad DNA. Show him the door.
Duchene. Value Village Tavares. Horrid defensively, can’t score 5v5. Basically a PP weapon who can’t play in any other situation. Cheap but ineffective.
Nelson, very good size, good player but probably not leaving Colorado, has no reason to play in Toronto (from Minnesota) unless you massively overpay him. And he’s 33. Not going to be a “prime years” contract. Usually a 50 point player most of his career. 0 playoff goals in 7 games for Colorado this year. ZERO.
Bennett and Marchand are not leaving better weather, better taxes, better team, proven winner and less pressure to deal with the BS that is Toronto. They’d both be complete idiots to sign with the Leafs. Also, didn’t Leafs fans hate them 10 minutes ago? You really want to overpay these guys into their mid to late 30s after they got that much mileage? That’s like buying a Mercedes at a used car lot with 200K KM on it. Looks great, sounds great but get ready to pay the double what it’s worth just for an oil change.
Giroux, not leaving Ottawa, hasn’t been a 100 point player in 7 years. Basically another 50 point guy on the wrong side of 37. Hasn’t been a playoff performer since 2012.
Palmieri, off the market. Also, 34 anyway…
Drouin has 1 playoff goal in his last 20 playoff games and he had the benefit of playing with MacKinnon. If he knows what’s good for him, he’ll stay in Colorado and continue being a passenger over there.
Suter, is better than Malgin, I’ll give him that but still, 2 playoff goals in 13 career playoff games? Don’t see this guy moving the needle that much
Granlund, good player but 32, why would he leave all his Finnish buddies in Dallas after going so deep this year?
Benn is washed, from BC, no reason to come to the Leafs. Probably just stays in Dallas for 1 year, 1 million dollar deals.
Kuzmenko, one year wonder, completely unreliable.
Donato, from Boston, why would he don’t see why he wouldn’t go back to Chicago / Boston unless you overpaid him. 0 playoff goals in 19 playoff games.
Roslovic, from Ohio, don’t see why he’d leave Carolina or come to Toronto unless you overpaid him. 3 career playoff goals in 45 games. Already have enough Jarnkroks and Kampfs. Don’t need another.
Mangiapane, 5’10”, 14 goals, 28 points. This guy can’t replace Marner except if it’s in a police line-up for the height and weight. If he takes a super cheap contract, he’s worth a shot but probably not a legit top-six threat in the playoffs as his career playoff numbers are unimpressive. 7 playoff goals, 14 points in 37 games.
The only two top-six forwards you listed that make sense are Smith and Kane. And you don’t need to lose Marner to get them.
Smith is a two-way, Cup winner, solid LW who can score some goals in the playoffs. But he’s not a 100 point player. You replace Tavares with Smith, not Marner.
Same goes for Kane at 36-37 years old. 10 years ago, he could replace Marner, but he’s a one-way, injury prone player now. He hasn’t had a good playoff run since 2015. Literally a decade ago since he had a playoff run with more than just 1 or 2 goals. That’s a complimentary player, not a guy who you can expect to replace a 100 point, two-way player 27-35, much less win a Cup with. You sign Kane the same way the Oilers signed Perry; 1 million dollar, 1 year deal to occasionally play on the top line and on the PP. You add Perry to the mix, you don’t replace Draisaitl with him.