Imagine Mikko Rantanen on the right side of the front three, along with Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies. The only catch is that the Toronto Maple Leafs would no longer have their hometown boy, Mitch Marner, anymore. You may be saying – but Marner never wanted to move to the Hurricanes. We’ve heard this story. Well, guess what? The Maple Leafs might’ve gotten their man thanks to a thrilling NHL trade carousel. In fact, the jaw-dropping update has got the fans weighing in with all kinds of theories and opinions.

It’s been around 3 months after the March Trade Deadline, and 1 month after the Maple Leafs had to bow out of the Stanley Cup playoffs once again. And the disappointment this year is starker in comparison to previous years. Because the Maple Leafs promised so much more, only to succumb to yet another early exit.

GM Brad Treliving has promised a real shake-up of the roster, and at the center of the revamp is Mitch Marner, who becomes an unrestricted free agent on July 1st. The way things have shaped up, many are speculating he is already gone. But as per a tweet from B/R Open Ice on June 9, Mitch Marner could have been gone much earlier. “Toronto, Carolina, and Vegas almost had a three-way deal in place that would’ve sent Mitch Marner to Vegas and Mikko Rantanen to Toronto, per @mirtle”.

For the neutrals, this is certainly a “Whoa” moment. Because that would have been one blockbuster of a deal. Not to mention the complication of it, which would have attracted a lot of talking points. But most importantly, it has got the Maple Leafs fans thinking, ‘What if?’. For those who want Marner gone, what might hurt even more is the next part of the tweet: “The deal reportedly fell through because Carolina and Vegas “failed to find the right assets” to complete it.”

Rantanen could have joined the Toronto Maple Leafs. Mitch Marner had apparently given the green light to the Vegas Golden Knights move. And all that was needed was the Carolina Hurricanes and the Knights coming to an agreement. We all know what happened. Rantanen went to the Dallas Stars. Marner stayed in Toronto. And as far as the Maple Leafs are concerned, things are gloomy and depressing.

As soon as the news broke, the fans started to pour in with their tweets. And a few of them have had some intriguing thoughts.

Fans discuss as the Toronto Maple Leafs go another year without a Stanley Cup

Well, one fan didn’t waste an extra word to make his point. It’s simple, it’s something most Maple Leafs fans are thinking: “Leafs would have won cup”. Well, we can’t say if their 48-year Cup drought would have ended because of Mikko Rantanen. All we can do is compare Mitch Marner’s playoff performance against Rantanen. The Toronto man scored 2 goals and 11 assists with a rating of -1 in 13 games. On the other side, Mikko Rantanen scored 9 goals and 13 points in 18 games with a rating of -3.

Rantanen is a proper attacking threat without a shadow of a doubt. And it’s his scoring prowess was what another fan pointed out while saying Toronto could have overcome the Panthers challenge after all if they had the Finnish right-winger. “that mikko second round hot streak would have put Toronto over the top in that series 😬”. Rantanen got 7 points against the Winnipeg Jets while Marner got 5.

You have to give some points to Marner, who was playing against the defending Stanley Cup Champions. In fact, the Panthers look every bit capable of taking the Cup again, doesn’t matter if Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are in the opposite camp. Rather, the Maple Leafs should really think hard before letting go of the guy who got 102 points in the regular season.

In fact, a fan asked if Marner was really ready to leave his hometown team just like that. “What about marners no trade clause? Does this imply he would have waived it, but the only reason the deal didn’t happen was other assets?” Marner used his no-trade clause to turn down a trade to Carolina directly. But it seems he had no problems with the Vegas move according to The Athletic writer, James Mirtle.

One curious fan wanted to know who it was that the Hurricanes wanted:

“Lol, and nothing on what the return to Carolina would be?”. And this was the ask from another fan, too, because he thinks the deal can still happen in the offseason. His tweet went: “Because Vegas and Carolina couldn’t agree on which player would be going from the Knights to the Canes? Canes have been interested in Eichel before. Wonder if they circle back. 🤔 #RaiseUp

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28-year-old Jack Eichel has had a decent postseason in 2025 (1G, 9A). But his regular season numbers are absolutely amazing: 28 goals and 66 assists in 77 games with a rating of +32. The point is: did the Golden Knights agree to part with him? Moreover, are they willing to do it now?

Time’s running out, and we are talking about the Toronto Maple Leafs in that context. They may lose a big asset and a loyal locker room member while they prepare for a huge 2025 offseason.