The BIG reason why they shouldn't
Let me ask you this, dear reader. Have you ever heard of the term, "cutting off your nose to spite your face?"
It's sacrificing something important to get back at someone. If you wanted to compete against the Edmonton Oilers and Dallas Stars, would sacrificing your team's depth be worth it?
Sure, the team has $9.615 million in cap space, according to PuckPedia. However, you'll have to dig awfully deep in the bargain bin for players to sign. If you think trading Mark Stone or William Karlsson is the solution, ask yourself who'd take a salary of $5.9 million or higher for a player 30 years or older.
That's not even considering the no-trade clauses such players carry. Stone has a full no-move clause, while players like Karlsson and Ivan Barbashev have modified no-trade clauses. That means you're looking at players like Nicolas Roy and Zach Whitecloud to trade. These players have cap hits of $3 million or less each.
What does that mean? It means you're sacrificing your player depth even further. While the blue line has some players they could sacrifice (i.e., Hague and Roy), it's tougher when the forward group doesn't have the same depth.
If you're competing with the best teams, you want to be strong from top to bottom. That means having four efficient lines rolled out every game. It's how the Golden Knights won the Stanley Cup in 2023 and it's what they must do to get another title.
While signing Marner gets you that top-line winger, it redistributes the lineup weight to the top line. That's a philosophy that's usually not in the Kelly McCrimmon rulebook. Sacrificing team depth for a megastar? That's no bueno.