The Toronto Maple Leafs and early playoff exits go together like peanut butter and jelly. One of the biggest hockey markets, who haven’t made of out of the second round since 2002, suffered yet another loss in game seven, the eighth time in the last 13 years the Leafs got booted in a win-or-go-home playoff game.
Over their last few years of early playoff eliminations, the Leafs front office decided that running it back with the exact same group with only a few minor depth changes will be the magic key to carry them to the Cup. And when that inevitably backfires, they just try it again. But they’re totally serious about changing things this time… maybe.
The push for change this time stems from the fact that Mitch Marner and John Tavares are both in need of new contracts, which gives the Leafs a bit of freedom to easily move on from members of the core four. But will they actually do it this time?
The recently-turned 28-year-old posted 102 points in 81 games during the 2024-25 season and has 741 points in 657 career NHL games. 228 of those points came on the power play.
The Flyers don’t really need another right wing, or another surely overpaid winger in general. But Matvei Michkov and Travis Konecny were playing on same line quite a bit towards the end of the season, with Michkov primarily seeing time on the left wing. Michkov on the left, Marner on the right with a new top center down the middle could provide the Flyers a legitimate top line they haven’t had in nearly decade.
Marner brings the kind of offensive creativity and explosive speed the Flyers desperately lack. Even if Marner doesn’t directly replicate his 90-plus point pace without Matthews (and Matthews may struggle to replicate his 60-goal pace without Marner), he possesses more raw skill than any of the current players on the roster by a country mile, outside of maybe Michkov.
It’s also worth nothing that 33 of Marner’s 102 points this season came on the power play, while the Flyers scored a total of 32 power play goals in 2024-25. Adding even one dynamic piece to the equation like Marner could help drag the Flyers out of the basement of the league’s power play rankings where they’ve been for years now.
And for the defense-first Tortorella… ah, sorry… Tocchet disciples, Marner has been a consistent Selke candidate for much of his career. He finished third in 2022-23, has finished in the top 10 twice, and top 16 four times. He landed 17th in 2023-24, with voting for 2024-25 not available as of this publishing.
“But he’s soft in the playoffs” I hear you yell at your screens. First of all, factually, that’s just not fully true. Marner has 13 goals and 63 points in 70 career playoff games. Sure you can argue the merits about when he does or doesn’t show up, but the face value numbers aren’t that bad.
His 70 postseason games are more than the Flyers have appeared in for the last 15 years combined. Also, the Flyers haven’t made the playoffs in five years and their “best” player Travis Konecny has one goal and eight points in 22 career playoff games. So, ya know, glass houses and such.
Maybe he’s not the most clutch postseason performer, but let’s burn that bridge when they get there. How about worrying about injecting a roster with talent just to get back to the postseason. Hard to cast blame about playoff performances when the Flyers don’t even make it that far in the first place.
The biggest hurdle when it comes to signing Marner will be his gigantic cap hit. He’s currently making just shy of $11 million a season. Players like this don’t hit the market every day and the cap is on the rise. He’s more than likely in line to pass his teammate (former teammate?) Auston Matthews for the highest cap in the league at $13.2 million, a record he’ll hold until Connor McDavid is in need of a new contract in 2026.
According to PuckPedia, the Flyers have about $25 million in cap space this summer, but that is before factoring in extensions to Noah Cates, Tyson Foerster and Cam York. Even conservatively, that’s at least half of the available cap sapce right there leaving them with less than it would take to land Marner. Sure, they can make roster moves, but recent history shows the Flyers aren’t interested in 4D chess when it comes to shaking up their roster.
Positionally, Marner may not be exactly what the Flyers need, but they’re also at a point where they shouldn’t easily turn their nose up at legitimate roster upgrades whenever they present themselves. If Marner makes it all the way to free agency, Danny Briere needs to seriously consider any and all options to get him here. This is the kind of opportunity that would turn the tide of the perception of the Flyers’ current struggles to land star power and beat the allegations that Briere may not be fit to make the big decisions as GM.
Mitch Marner is still young enough to lead the charge in Philly and is more than talented enough to carry the next generation of players. For a team desperate for an immediate turnaround like the Flyers, there are few better options than Marner, whatever the cost may be.
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyeraFan)
photo credit: nhl.com
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