Marner had one of the best jr careers of all time. Kinda a no brainer here. If for some reason the leafs wanted a defenceman instead then Provorov, or Hanifin would be picked before Makar.
Yeah. Hard to deny the sort of results Marner had in Juniors, even by draft day. Not to mention how much more stable a projection someone like Marner profiled as. Not only in being a scoring phenom Forward rather than a Defenceman, but in coming out of the proven OHL rather than a Jr A league.
The only real argument i could see for Makar as a prospect on their respective draft days, is Marner's serious lack of size (especially how skinny he was at the time). But he was just too talented and elusive for that to really be a major concern for me.
I could see an argument for Makar if you're a team absolutely beyond desperate for help on the blueline, so long as you view the two as being on the same "tier" as prospects in that draft...but on draft day, i can't say i would've felt that way about the two. Especially if we allow the other amazing defence prospects from that draft to leak into the conversation. I would've comfortably had Werenski, Provorov, and Hanifin ahead of Makar as blueliners. Whereas at the time, it would've been a real struggle for me choosing between the forward in Marner, and the two guys i absolutely loved as bluechip defence prospects in Werenski+Provorov. Same tier, where opting for the blueliner out of "need" would've been easily justifiable to me.