Trevor Neufeld: Pitch for Mitch: Marner Seems Like a Perfect Fit in Calgary—Why He Isn’t

No NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NONONO NO !!!!!! Repeat all day long ! He’s useless

He is not going anywhere in Canada, because of the insanity of the fan bases.

And wherever he goes, he will continue to be a stud.

Canadien fan bases can not figure out their insanity makes many players walk for American markets.

Frost is soft as Charmain toilet paper. It's funny that you haven't seen that yet. Torts tried every method to light a fire under him and nothing worked. Be aware of signing him to a long term contract.

Always appreciate the articles Trevor! Here's my long take:
I see a player (Marner) who consistently scores a point per game, albeit riding shotgun with Matthews, but he plays well most shifts, creates offence, kills penalties, makes positive plays most of the time with the puck, great vision, great passer. Why wouldn't we want him? I don't get it. Get rid of Farabee, absolutely useless as a winger. Does nothing out there. I'd buy him out or move him for little return to make room for Marner, easily, if that were a real option. I could see Marner turning Sharangovich into a 40-45g scorer.
I'm still divided on Frosty, want to see him progress next year, but in the small sample size, not an impact player.
Backlund and Coleman were great last year, but how many more games can they keep it up? 1 more season, tops?
To say that we don't have room for Mitch Marner is short-sighted, you should always have room or make room for a 90-point player who makes others around him better, and is in the prime of his life. Did you see the assists/plays he made in the 4-nations cup on Team Canada? I thought he was one of our most impactful forwards at both ends in almost every game!

Regardless of what happens with Andersson (he was AWFUL last 50 games of the season, played through injury, probably shouldn't have because he was so terrible out there)... to say that fans who want to build a championship team by getting a few years worth of top15 or higher 1st round draft picks are not real fans is BS. I want us to win. Look at the final four this year, and pretty much every year - it's very rare when one of the final 4 teams doesn't have at least 2-3+ top draft picks developed by them selected in the top 15 picks:
FLA has Ekblad (1st overall), Barkov (2nd overall), Lundell (12th overall) as core impact pieces picked quite high for being a crappy team those years, while they acquired Tkachuk with Huberdeau (3rd overall). Carolina has Svechnikov (2nd overall), Jarvis (13th overall), had Necas (12th overall) - moved for quality return. Edmonton has... you know. Dallas have Heiskanen (3rd overall), while Johnston, Harley, and Oettinger were all 1st rounders (not early though), but drafted and developed.
In order to build a competitive team which competes for the Stanley cup and not just the playoffs, you need impact players, the best players. The easiest way to find them is in the top 10 or top 5 picks in the draft. All of this is logical and the best and most proven way to build a team that can win the Stanley Cup, which is what I want, as a true Flames fan. If we have to lose for a few seasons to get there, it's worth it. This year's team, while we appreciate the effort, is nowhere near contending for the Cup, even with our current prospects. We need more, much more. I'm fed up with mediocrity, as a true fan, I want the best path for us to win the cup. I'd rather suck than be mediocre, because then we can get the impact players we need in the draft. GFG!

Great write up Trevor!

I had no idea Mitch was so slow. This kind of explains why he becomes less useful in the playoffs when there is more clutching and grabbing and less open ice. Hopefully, Conroy is reading your blog.

I agree with the Tampa fan; Mitch needs to go somewhere that the fans are more relaxed and where he can rehab his image.

It will be interesting to see where he lands and for how long. Does he sign a max term contract with a team like Columbus or a show-me contract with a contender? If Marner were to land in Canada, the only two teams I could see him willing to join are Edmonton and Montreal. Both would be a finger in the eye of Toronto fans.

I don't want Marner in Calgary. Conroy needs to acquire a 1C before adding any significant firepower. Still not sure how they are going to get that 1C without a bottom five pick.

Please……puleeeeezzzz, take Marner! Please! He’s a cry baby, turnover machine, that disappears when the going gets tough. And you can be sure he’ll fleece you for absolutely every nickel he can get. Blame his demise on the fans and media if you want, but he had miles of latitude for YEARS, before people spoke the ugly truth about him. To be honest I think he still gets a ton of elbow room from what he deserves. The media sugarcoats how Leaf fans talk about him. Leaf fans have been through this losing, for decades!! Players like Clark and Gilmour and Tucker, Salming, are Gods in that town…….not because they won, but because they worked their ass off!! You don’t have to win in Toronto, you just have to bleed blue, especially when you demand league leading money for a winger! So blame the media and fans all you want but this is a Marner issue NOT a Toronto issue.

Please……puleeeeezzzz, take Marner! Please! He’s a cry baby, turnover machine, that disappears when the going gets tough. And you can be sure he’ll fleece you for absolutely every nickel he can get. Blame his demise on the fans and media if you want, but he had miles of latitude for YEARS, before people spoke the ugly truth about him. To be honest I think he still gets a ton of elbow room from what he deserves. The media sugarcoats how Leaf fans talk about him. Leaf fans have been through this losing, for decades!! Players like Clark and Gilmour and Tucker, Salming, are Gods in that town…….not because they won, but because they worked their ass off!! You don’t have to win in Toronto, you just have to bleed blue, especially when you demand league leading money for a winger! So blame the media and fans all you want but this is a Marner issue NOT a Toronto issue.
- Bullot

Not just a Marner issue, you can also put some blame on the other "core" members and management for allowing themselves to be put in that position to overpay for Marner.

Great write up Trevor!

I had no idea Mitch was so slow. This kind of explains why he becomes less useful in the playoffs when there is more clutching and grabbing and less open ice. Hopefully, Conroy is reading your blog.

I agree with the Tampa fan; Mitch needs to go somewhere that the fans are more relaxed and where he can rehab his image.

It will be interesting to see where he lands and for how long. Does he sign a max term contract with a team like Columbus or a show-me contract with a contender? If Marner were to land in Canada, the only two teams I could see him willing to join are Edmonton and Montreal. Both would be a finger in the eye of Toronto fans.

I don't want Marner in Calgary. Conroy needs to acquire a 1C before adding any significant firepower. Still not sure how they are going to get that 1C without a bottom five pick.
- DuranDuran

Thanks guys! This one had some sauce. That’s the goal every time.

It’s weird. Marner can hit high top speeds, but he really utilizes slowing down and getting open. You’re absolutely right. That affects his bottom line in the playoffs.

Prior to this season, his and Huberdeau’s speed metrics were nearly identical in numbers. I think he would struggle to adapt in Calgary where time and space is scarce. It’s likely that Martin Pospisil would be stapled to his line, but everyone wants the benefits of having Martin out there retrieving pucks for them.

That situation would leave Huberdeau without a retriever and.. hurt his numbers for sure.

Great write up Trevor!

I had no idea Mitch was so slow. This kind of explains why he becomes less useful in the playoffs when there is more clutching and grabbing and less open ice. Hopefully, Conroy is reading your blog.

I agree with the Tampa fan; Mitch needs to go somewhere that the fans are more relaxed and where he can rehab his image.

It will be interesting to see where he lands and for how long. Does he sign a max term contract with a team like Columbus or a show-me contract with a contender? If Marner were to land in Canada, the only two teams I could see him willing to join are Edmonton and Montreal. Both would be a finger in the eye of Toronto fans.

I don't want Marner in Calgary. Conroy needs to acquire a 1C before adding any significant firepower. Still not sure how they are going to get that 1C without a bottom five pick.
- DuranDuran

100% agree. The biggest lesson that we should have learned was paying Huberdeau for his 115 point year. Dont get me wrong, I liked how Huberdeau has played last year & the great influence with our young players. That is so important & just like Weegar taking Parekh under his wing like he did. But we need to build a team & we have some outstanding pieces, we have our franchise goalie, which is really really hard to find, we have our future Makar. We just need to get that future #1 center. That may take several darts cause we never get top 5 picks & with Wolf, it is going to be even that much more difficult. We have some solid pieces coming up the pipeline, Basha is looking real good, Battaglia is going to be a steal, Gridin is going to be in our top 9, Morin is better than many think, keep an eye on him during this Memorial Cup. I think Klapka is going to be well worth the wait as we start to see him break out.

Conroy needs to figure out how to get back into the top 10 so he can grab one of these centers. Besides Misa, they arent generational or anything but they will have ceiling. Next year we have another 2 1st's & it's a way better draft than this year & there are some real good potential young centers we can add to our pipeline. Thats how we build a contender. Im ok with giving Frost a 5-6 year deal around 5.0 mill per. I see him as a replacement to Backlund for that 3rd line center spot. Farabee Im prepared to see what the kid has next year as well. Zary is a tough call, knowing that kid he'll probably want to bet on himself on a 1-2 year bridge. Im ok wth that too. Bahl get him inked to a 7 year deal & give him close to that 5.0-5.5 mill per. I like his game.

100% agree. The biggest lesson that we should have learned was paying Huberdeau for his 115 point year. Dont get me wrong, I liked how Huberdeau has played last year & the great influence with our young players. That is so important & just like Weegar taking Parekh under his wing like he did. But we need to build a team & we have some outstanding pieces, we have our franchise goalie, which is really really hard to find, we have our future Makar. We just need to get that future #1 center. That may take several darts cause we never get top 5 picks & with Wolf, it is going to be even that much more difficult. We have some solid pieces coming up the pipeline, Basha is looking real good, Battaglia is going to be a steal, Gridin is going to be in our top 9, Morin is better than many think, keep an eye on him during this Memorial Cup. I think Klapka is going to be well worth the wait as we start to see him break out.

Conroy needs to figure out how to get back into the top 10 so he can grab one of these centers. Besides Misa, they arent generational or anything but they will have ceiling. Next year we have another 2 1st's & it's a way better draft than this year & there are some real good potential young centers we can add to our pipeline. Thats how we build a contender. Im ok with giving Frost a 5-6 year deal around 5.0 mill per. I see him as a replacement to Backlund for that 3rd line center spot. Farabee Im prepared to see what the kid has next year as well. Zary is a tough call, knowing that kid he'll probably want to bet on himself on a 1-2 year bridge. Im ok wth that too. Bahl get him inked to a 7 year deal & give him close to that 5.0-5.5 mill per. I like his game.
- Kevin R

San Jose GM Mike Grier said the #2 was available at end-of-season media availabilities, but it would cost a package of young players. Paraphrasing.