Islanders Plotting Run at Mitch Marner is Perfect Revenge on Leafs for Stealing John Tavares

After the Toronto Maple Leafs ripped out the hearts of New York Islanders fans all over the country by luring John Tavares back to his childhood team, Barry Trotz and the guys on Long Island have concocted a devious way of getting even with Toronto.

With 22-year-old Mitch Marner set to hit restricted free agency, the Islanders are making a strong push for him in an attempt to break up Toronto's Tavares-Marner-Auston Matthews core that was supposed to lead them back to the Stanley Cup.

The Islanders lost out on Panarin but they aren’t done big-game hunting yet. Offer sheet is a very real possibility and Marner is the most likely target.
— Mike Kelly (@MikeKellyNHL) July 5, 2019

While losing Artemi Panarin to the local rival Rangers was a major disappointment, the Islanders could end up with a better long term piece in Marner.

The young center piled up 94 points last season with 26 goals and 68 assists while finishing 14th in Selke voting.

While the Islanders are currently in a tight spot as far as the salary cap goes, and it would take a ridiculous offer sheet to pry Marner away from the Leafs, there is still a possibility this gets done.

All this talk about the Islanders offer sheeting Mitch Marner seems to leave out the fact that the Isles have $8.65M in cap space with Beauvillier unsigned as an RFA. Yawn.
— Scott Wheeler (@scottcwheeler) July 5, 2019

He may not score 47 goals like Tavares, but a player like Marner in Trotz's scheme would be a match made in heaven.