While the NHL playoffs are still ongoing, a certain team being eliminated has got the rumor mill swirling. On Sunday night in typical Maple Leaf fashion, the Toronto Maple Leafs were eliminated by the Florida Panthers in game 7.
Another year, another embarrassing showing by the Maple Leafs when it mattered most. With their season coming to an end, there are now a lot of questions as we get closer to the offseason.
Mitch Marner, John Tavares, Matthew Knies, are the three big names that need new deals come July 1st. All three aren’t going to come cheap either. Knies is a restricted free agent so if anyone wants to try and pry him from the Leafs it will take an offer sheet. Which, if you’ve been following some of the big dawgs on hockey twitter is a hot topic(I’ll have another post about offer sheets later on).
As for Marner and Tavares, both of these guys are in different situations in their careers. Marner is 28 years old and in his prime, coming off a career best regular season. While Tavares is 34 and getting towards the end of his career and still had a very productive regular season.
Now look, we can get into the disappearing act that Marner has played throughout his career in the playoffs, but thats been beaten to death at this point. Obviously, it is a concerning factor when you look at his numbers come playoff time but the guy has all the talent in the world.
The Obvious answer to my question in the title of the article is yes they should pursue him. You’re telling me you wouldn’t want them pursuing a guy that had 102 points in the regular season? You’d be fucking stupid if you answered no to that.
“Oh but when the playoffs come he’s nowhere to be found.”
Newsflash assholes, we haven’t made the playoffs in 5 years…5 FUCKING YEARS.
So, let’s not act like every Flyers fan out there myself included isn’t DYING for playoff hockey to return to Philly.
So if bringing in Marner means that the Flyers could for sure improve their chances of making the playoffs then I am in. Plus I think he is one of those guys a change of scenery would do him wonders.
BUUUUUUTTTTTT, they can pursue him while still being smart and sticking with their current plan. After they re-sign all of their RFA’s the Flyers will probably have around $9-$10 Million in cap space left to spend. That’s a great spot for them to be in considering all the work Danny Briere and Keith Jones have done to get them in this position.
The problem is, that’s probably not enough for them to actually sign Marner to the deal he is going to be looking for. So while I do think it would be a great idea to try and bring him in, they should only do it after they fill their main need of adding depth at the center position. Adding a true number 1 center is the biggest need for this team at the moment, but there are other ways to add that besides free agency. All i’m saying is, if the Flyers were to make a huge splash this offseason(Unlikely) they’d move some draft capital to bring in a center AND make a big push to sign Marner.
Hold on to your butts because the rumor mill is going to be a hot place to be over the next few months.
-Walsh
The Philly Phan Cave 
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