Marner trade talk exposes urgency of upcoming playoffs

Last week's NHL trade deadline was mostly uneventful for the Toronto Maple Leafs. A couple of useful veteran players were added at the expense of some picks and prospects. General manager Brad Treliving warned that prices were high and that a blockbuster deal shouldn't be expected as the Leafs chase a valuable Atlantic Division title. He promised tinkering, and he delivered.

It was only in the aftermath that there was some ground-shaking news, as it was reported that Treliving was thinking of trading Mitch Marner.

That is, admittedly, an oversimplification. Leafs management reportedly approached Camp Marner once it became clear that the Carolina Hurricanes were shopping recently acquired winger Mikko Rantanen, who was reluctant to sign an extension there.

Would Marner be open to signing a contract extension with Toronto before he hits free agency in July? The Leafs reportedly stressed that this was their preference. But if Marner wasn't willing to commit, was he willing to waive his no-movement clause for a trade to the Hurricanes? He was not.

And that is apparently where it ended. Just some chatter and some due diligence. No harm, no foul. In the days since, Marner has steadfastly refused to be baited on contract questions. "I want to be with this team. I want to play with this team,” he said. Treliving says the Leafs want Marner to be in Toronto for "a long time.”

These do not sound like two parties headed toward an acrimonious divorce, but it's hard not to feel like the tectonic plates under the franchise are shifting just a little.

Marner is in his ninth season in Toronto. There have been endless questions about the roster makeup, built as it is around four high-end, high-priced forwards, in almost every one of those years. They reliably become louder around playoff time, or more specifically around the time of the Maple Leafs' early playoff exit. The Leafs under president Brendan Shanahan have never publicly budged from their bet-on-talent position - not under former general manager Kyle Dubas and not when Treliving replaced him two years ago and had a chance to make a big deal before Marner's no-movement clause kicked in.

The Leafs will either finally go on a long playoff run with their Core Four forwards, or they'll fail and try it all over again. That's kind of been their thing.

Suddenly, though, the rumblings of a possible Marner trade, even if was just some tire-kicking that went nowhere, suggest the Maple Leafs really could be approaching the end of an era. That they would even discuss moving Marner, who at 27 is having one of his best statistical seasons despite the extended absences of usual linemate Auston Matthews, is a sign that they aren't totally confident about keeping him in Toronto once they have to bid against the rest of the league.

There is some history here. Marner's current deal came after protracted negotiations in which his agent went public with accusations of a low-ball offer, and it was ultimately signed at a length and number - six years with an average annual value of $10.9 million - that did not imply a team-friendly discount.

All of this gives the coming playoff push heightened stakes, if not outright urgency. For many years now, the Leafs have largely been locked into this roster. Or perhaps it's more accurate to say that they've locked themselves into it. However you frame it, the high-priced forwards have forced management to make budget acquisitions elsewhere. It's just been the way that Shanahan and his lieutenants have done things.

And it's why the notion of the Leafs without Marner is so bracing. It's not just that the possibility of losing him for nothing would seem like a major mistake, it's that fans have been used to this version of the Maple Leafs for so long that it's hard to imagine the roster looking any other way.

What if the person to finally blow it all up, after all the playoff disappointments and all the attempts at running it back, wasn't Shanahan or Dubas or Treliving, but Marner himself?

For now, there are other things for Leafs Nation to worry about. On Jan. 7, the team had a six-point lead over Florida in the Atlantic Division. Two weeks ago, it was still leading the division and getting the kind of goaltending that Dubas never managed to acquire in his time in Toronto. But after a shaky road trip in which both goalies had off games, and with Florida and Tampa Bay both loading up at the trade deadline, Toronto is once again staring at the possibility of a grim and difficult playoff road.

The Leafs do, however, have one thing going for them. Amid the trade talk and speculation about change, pessimism about their playoff prospects should be comfortingly familiar.

Scott Stinson is a contributing writer for theScore.