Silly season is right around the corner, and Toronto Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner stands at the top of potential unrestricted free agents who will undoubtedly get a hefty contract in the offseason. Are the Philadelphia Flyers able to woo? And should they?
The Flyers have become a shadow of their once-great former selves. The team struggles to win games, attendance has dropped, and there are not a lot of players to get excited about beyond Matvei Michkov. It is not all doom and gloom, though. Former Flyers Danny Briere and Keith Jones continue to make changes and work to improve the team as The New Era of Orange marches forward.
The organization believes that new head coach -- and former Flyer -- Rick Tocchet will play a part in recruiting players to the team and improving the team's culture. As part of that process, can that front office trio bring Mitch Marner to Philadelphia?
Marner is a right winger who turned 28 just two weeks ago and, while the Leafs have not fared well in the postseason, he has put up 63 points in 70 playoff games. He can help a team win, but maybe that team is not Toronto.
What would it cost to sign Marner?
The salary cap for next season is set at 95.5 million, and the Flyers currently have roughly 25-27 million in cap space (depending on which source you use -- but $24,720,238 seems like the right number). A player's max cap hit can go as high as 20% of the cap, meaning Marner could hypothetically command as much as $19.1 million annually, but that seems unlikely. Marner will likely make around the same as top players like Auston Matthews and Connor McDavid, which is around 12-13 million annually.
Toronto is roughly a half hour from his hometown of Markham, Ontario, and he has spent nearly a decade playing for the same team. Four years ago, he married his elementary school sweetheart, and the couple just welcomed their first child into the world. Moving is disruptive, and moving to another country is even more so.
Any team looking to pry Marner across the border into the States will likely have to pay more of a premium. Let's assume it is $15 million. Can the Flyers justify that cost when it is over half of their available cap space? Well, maybe with some finagling.
Can the Flyers afford him?
After next season, some of the team's dead cap occupied by Cam Atkinson, Kevin Hayes, and Scott Laughton will be off the books, freeing up $6,829,762. After the following season, Ryan Ellis will be off the books, freeing up another $6,250,000. That would be in the neighborhood of Marner's likely cap hit, but it's not that simple, of course. That is a deep dive for another occasion, though. The question here remains: Is it a good idea to bring Mitch Marner to Philadelphia?
For starters, Marner is a right winger, and that is the only area where the Flyers have depth. Marner has played left wing in the past, though. Moving him to the left side would create the dynamic duo the franchise has lacked for ages. Just picturing Marner and Michkov lighting up the league can give you chills.
Moving Marner -- or Michkov if that made more sense -- would then add more depth by opening the opportunity for Travis Konecny, Owen Tippett, or Tyson Foerster on the second line. That line would be paired up against somewhat easier opponents, which would also boost the offense. That change alone could put the team in the playoffs.
Addressing our biggest need
The biggest need the Flyers have up front is a center. This is true. Of the available free agents, the best option under 30 may be Sam Bennett or Marco Rossi. Rossi is a restricted free agent and would need to be acquired by trade. Bennett turns 29 next month and had a career-high 51 points last season. Rossi is 23 and had 60 points this past season. In a bubble, Rossi makes more sense as he and Michkov could play together for a long time. Since the Flyers may need to shed some salary in the process through the trade, that could help offset the cost of his next contract.
A first line of Marner-Rossi-Michkov would bring this team into the next level of its development and give them a chance to make some semblance of a postseason run.
At the right price, a highly skilled veteran center over 30, like John Tavares, Brock Nelson, or Claude Giroux, would give even more depth up the middle, which would give the Flyers two good scoring lines. It also buys time for Jett Luchanko to develop and put Sean Couturier into an easier situation to put less wear and tear on his body and play to his two-way strengths.
There is no shortage of strong opinions about bringing back Giroux, but there is a difference between bringing a former player back for the sake of it and bringing a player in to fill a specific role that he can fill.
Jumping in head first
Sometimes, you need to take the hit to make the play. In this sense, it would mean banking a lot of cap space for one player. It could also mean losing assets to acquire a player like Marco Rossi. If these things need to happen to make the Flyers a better team, then they should do it. They cannot wait around forever and cannot remain stagnant just to see what might happen with Connor McDavid in the future.
So, yes, it does make sense to bring in Marner, or at least a player of his caliber, even if he does not play the position they need to fill the most. There are no free agents that could fill that spot, and a guy like Marner does not become available very often (if he becomes available at all).
For Marner, it is a matter of deciding if he is okay with playing left wing, is okay with a disruptive move to his life, and is willing to buy into the Flyers' New Era of Orange. Those are a lot of variables, none of which are easy to answer. If all signs point to yes, the organization should jump on the opportunity.