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Did the Toronto Maple Leafs do the right thing in letting Mitch Marner go?
TThe Toronto Maple Leafs were among the 31 teams that envied the Florida Panthers once they paraded around their home rink with the Stanley Cup. Auston Matthews can’t do it all, and an offensive-minded addition up front or on the back end would do a world of good.
Their odd offseason decisions are coming under fire from long-time NHL analyst Damien Cox.
Maple Leafs Offseason “Doesn’t Make a Lot of Sense”
Cox made an appearance on the Ladies Talkin’ Leafs podcast. During the August 13th episode, he expressed his lack of understanding of what the organization has been trying to achieve with its moves this offseason.
“I look at the moves they’ve made and what they appear to be trying to do, and it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me,” Cox said to the podcast hosts. “I still think they’re going to have a good hockey team. They will be in that 100-point range again next year. Cause they’ve still got great goaltending, star players, (and) a pretty sturdy defense.”
They have brought in Dakota Joshua and Matias Maccelli, extended John Tavares, and traded away Mitch Marner this summer.
“I just don’t see how they’re going to be better.”
Maple Leafs Move That Made the Least Sense
Cox’s isolated goal scoring as the primary area of criticism.
“Once again, when it mattered, (they) couldn’t score,” Cox explained. “In the final four games against Florida, unless I’m wrong, they scored four goals. You’re not going to win many series scoring four goals.”
The long-time NHL analyst sees the Marner trade as part of Brad Treliving’s calling card. Additionally, they haven’t replaced the offense that he brought to the team.
“So what did they do? They got rid of their leading scorer,” Cox stated, perplexed. “That team needs to create more offense. I don’t see anything they’ve done that’s created more offense. Now we are going down the Brad Treliving path that he did in Calgary, bringing in size and beef, not valuing skill in quite the same way.”
“That didn’t work in Calgary. Now they (Maple Leafs) are betting that same formula is going to work in Toronto.”
Having more snarl in an NHL lineup is not a bad thing. But it shouldn’t come at the expense of skill. Marner finished the regular season with 18 points more than their next highest scorer, Matthews. During the playoffs, Marner finished second in scoring with 13 points in 13 games. Only William Nylander scored more points during the playoffs than Marner (15).
Maple Leafs Should Have Let Tavares Go Instead of Marner
Cox believes that the solution this offseason wasn’t signing and trading Marner; it was letting John Tavares walk.
“I think the answer was to keep Mitch Marner and to build a better team around him,” Cox revealed. “Find a way to do that. Let John Tavares go, use that money to bring in some other guys.”
“Mitch Marner is going to look great in Vegas; he’s going to make the Maple Leafs look bad.”
Caleb Kerney Caleb covers the NHL for Heavy.com. He has covered professional hockey since 2022, including bylines at Dobber Prospects, The Hockey Writers, and The Hockey News. More about Caleb Kerney
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