Quoting: b_sully1996
Marner is not in the same ilk as Kane, Kucherov, and Ovechkin and if you think that than you may need to be admitted to an institution. Marner would not have had 94 points last season if he wasn't flanking Tavares. JT has increased his wingers' production throughout his career and is the one who drives production on his line. The minute they leave Tavares's side, they become far less effective players (see Okposo, Moulson, Parenteau, Bailey, etc.). To prove this, compare Tavares's and Marner's advanced stats. Tavares's Corsi for % is 51.69 without Marner on the ice while Marner's is only 39.06 without Tavares. Tavares's scoring chances for % was 54.22 without Mitch while Marner's was a measly 39.76. Similar percentages are true for expected goal % and high danger Corsi for %. Also, goals are worth more than assists in this league and Marner hasn't proved he can score more than 26 goals. I'm not paying a 26 goal scorer who has his production elevated by his centreman $10-12 mill. Maybe, you're the one who should give your head a shake and not overpay players in a cap era who aren't worth it.
I didn’t say Marner was the same ilk as those wingers and I did not use them as contract comparables. My point was that they drive play despite them not being centres and they were awarded their contracts for the deserved worth, accordingly.
Comparing Tavares’ previous wingers to Marner is a false equivalency in my opinion. None of those players possessed the same hockey IQ or cerebral decision making that Tavares did. He brought them up as far as he could but on their own they could not effectively impact a line. Marner however has proved the exact opposite to date. Every linemate he’s played with over consistent periods (ex: more than 20 games) have had career years with Marner in terms of points and/or goals. Go look at Kadri, Bozak, JVR, Hyman and Tavares’ numbers before and after playing with Marner - there definitely is a statistically significant trend.
So finally Marner and Tavares play a year together on the same line and the result was that they complemented each other extremely well. Both players hit career highs in points and Marner enabled Tavares to hit a career high in goals - which as you said is more important than assists. Well Tavares doesn’t crack 40 goals if it’s not for Marner. It’s an inter-dependent relationship and it benefits the Leafs. And because Dubas has set two RFA precedent deals (Matthews and Nylander) with paying players for potential and not for current worth it leads to one likely end result. Marner getting paid eight figures.