The Leafs Have a Chance to Bend the Golden Knights' Pursuit of Mitch Marner to Their Benefit
Photo credit: John E. Sokolowski - Imagn Images
The Maple Leafs could be in prime position to bend the Golden Knights to their will as they continue to pursue Mitch Marner with very little cap space in hand.
The Vegas Golden Knights' pursuit of Mitch Marner is well known and was backed up by recent reports that suggested they almost landed the star winger at the trade deadline as part of a three-team trade. Unfortunately it fell through as the Carolina Hurricanes and the Golden Knights couldn't agree on moving pieces.
With just $9.615 million to play with this summer, the Knights have a lot of work to do to fill out their roster. There have been rumours about trading players like William Karlsson, but one player in particular that the Toronto Maple Leafs should look to target is Ivan Barbashev.
Why Ivan Barbashev Makes Sense For the Toronto Maple Leafs
The 29-year-old forward is currently under contract until the end of the 2027-28 season with a modest cap hit of $5 million dollars. He's coming off of a season where he scored 23 goals and 51 points in 70 games and played quite a bit with Jack Eichel and Mark Stone.
Barbashev has been a solid piece for the Golden Knights since they acquired him from the St. Louis Blues a couple of years back, and he ended up playing a very monumental role during their Stanley Cup run in 2023 with 7 goals and 18 points in 22 games.
That was also not the first Stanley Cup ring for Barbashev as he earned one as a member of the Blues in 2019 under the guidance of Craig Berube. Barbashev also brings a level of skill, size, and physicality that the Leafs would cover, while also being able to play down the middle or on the wing.
As was recently reported, Vegas could place defenseman Alex Pietrangelo on the LTIR to begin the season. A move like that would alleviate $8.8 million in additional cap space, which would theoretically allow them to pursue Mitch Marner.
Vegas is very tight up against the salary cap, and with Marner set to earn potentially $14M or more per season on his next deal, the Golden Knights may yet need to free up some additional cap space in order to be able to afford to offer Marner what he's looking for.
The Leafs could potentially swoop in and help the Golden Knights offload a significant contract to help set Marner up with a new home with a Stanley Cup contender. In return, they could land themselves a quality piece in Ivan Barbashev if they play their cards right.
| POLL | ||
JUIN 14 | 4052 ANSWERS The Leafs Have a Chance to Bend the Golden Knights' Pursuit of Mitch Marner to Their Benefit Should trading for Ivan Barbashev be a legitimate move for Toronto to pursue? | ||
| Yes | 2244 | 55.4 % |
| No | 1808 | 44.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
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