B/R NHL Staff Roundtable: The Best Team for Mitch Marner to Be Traded to Next Season

The discourse around Mitch Marner will be ongoing until there's a definitive resolution this Summer.

The Maple Leafs' winger recorded 85 points in just 69 games last season, but his paltry 3 points in a seven-game series loss to the Bruins in the playoffs is the catalyst for the Ontario native to be run out of town.

Rumors have been bubbling since Toronto's elimination on whether Marner is part of the solution or has been part of the problem. With a no-move clause and just a year left on his contract, the 27-year-old three-time All-Star would need to be involved in a somewhat complicated, though not impossible, trade.

So, with that in mind, our B/R NHL staff got busy thinking about where the best place for Marner to play next season.

Have your own thoughts? Shout them out in the comments section of our app!

Marner to Music City Makes the Most Sense

Rick Madonik/Toronto Star via Getty Images

TORONTO, ON - NOVEMBER 16: Toronto Maple Leafs center Mitchell Marner (16) hustles up ice behind Nashville Predators defenseman Dante Fabbro (57). Toronto Maple Leafs vs Nashville Predators during 3rd period play NHL regular season action at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. Leafs won 3-0. CORONOAPD. Toronto Star/Rick Madonik (Rick Madonik/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

Let's face it, folks. As much as we want to think we're experts when it comes to what's going on in the corner offices, we're all just guessing, and there's probably little to nothing we know that the folks in those offices don't want us to know.

But that doesn't mean we can't figure some things out.

Here are a few things that seem clear: The Maple Leafs are top-heavy when it comes to salaries. They're also in need of a culture change (or shock, if you prefer) after several years of underperformance with that high-priced roster. And if Marner is indeed on the block, it's going to take a team with cap room and assets to make real sense as a trading partner.

The Nashville Predators are that team.

GM Barry Trotz took the job last summer with a declaration that the team, long known as smothering over scintillating, would become a more entertaining product on the ice.

Swedish-born winger Filip Forsberg helped trigger the transformation in 2023-24, registering career-highs in goals (48) and points (94) while climbing into the league's upper echelon in both categories and ultimately finishing sixth in the former and 13th in the latter.

And if he reached those heights playing with Ryan O'Reilly—a respected veteran but not a play-making virtuoso—at center, it's no stretch to predict an even-higher spike with an add like Marner, whose 445 assists since 2016-17 are sixth-best in the league.

Trotz made a necessary move when he dumped Ryan McDonagh and his $6.75 million cap hit back to Tampa Bay last month, adding a pair of draft picks in return and leaving better than $26 million in available space on the Nashville books to accommodate a bigger splash.

Marner, regardless of who heads north (goalie Juuse Saros, perhaps), is that bigger splash.

And given the absence of state income tax in Tennessee, a city like Nashville can't help but be attractive to a 27-year-old millionaire with the power to decide where he winds up.

From Smashville to Flashville...now that's entertainment.

— Lyle Fitzsimmons

Ducks and Marner Are the Perfect Fit

Julian Avram/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

TORONTO, ON - JANUARY 26: Anaheim Ducks Defenceman Cam Fowler (4) defends Toronto Maple Leafs Right Wing Mitchell Marner (16) during the NHL regular season game between the Anaheim Ducks and the Toronto Maple Leafs on January 26, 2022, at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, ON, Canada. (Photo by Julian Avram/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

The Ducks are brimming with young potential stars at every position. You saw their electric start to last season and the way that power play operated. You saw the emergence of Leo Carlsson, Mason McTavish, Pavel Mintyukov and Lukas Dostal. You saw head coach Greg Cronin's passion and experience with up-and-coming talent shine through. Add Cutter Gauthier into the mix and you know this team is going somewhere good in the next five years.

The Ducks have the cap space to make a Marner contract work, and they have any of the aforementioned assets and more -- Trevor Zegras, anyone? -- to make a convincing deal for the Maple Leafs. I know the Leafs aren't necessarily seeking a Zegras type, and the Ducks would be silly to move Dostal, but perhaps Toronto could use a number of assets acquired in a deal between these two teams, and the cap space cleared by sending Marner off, to make another flip and stock up their defense and/or go for a big splash in net.

-Sara Civian

Adding Marner with Bedard Would Create a Dynamic Duo in Chicago

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CHICAGO, IL - NOVEMBER 24: Connor Bedard #98 of the Chicago Blackhawks controls the puck against Mitchell Marner #16 of the Toronto Maple Leafs during the third period at the United Center on November 24, 2023 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Melissa Tamez/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

If you're looking for asset matches for a Marner trade, look no further than Chicago.

General manager Kyle Davidson has multiple first and second-round picks in the next two drafts along with a growing prospect pool that could tempt Toronto counterpart Brad Treliving. He has $32,949,000 in cap space to hand out Marner a long-term extension.

Oh, and he has a generational center talent to pair Marner with.

It's a no-brainer to put Marner and Connor Bedard together and the pair could be the bedrock of a future dynasty that fans in the Windy City could compare Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews to.

From Toronto's side of things, Treliving could use the assets gained in a Marner trade - and the extra cap space - to fill holes in an unbalanced roster, namely in defense and in net.

Davidson has handled the rebuild about as well as you could so far. A trade for Marner would be the next logical step.

- Lucky Ngamwajasat