NHL Rumors: Are Mitch Marner Days Winding Down with the Maple Leafs

Mitch Marner and the Toronto Maple Leafs Have Tough Decisions Ahead

Jeff Marek of Sportsnet was on Sirius XM NHL Network Radio with Gord Stellick and Scott Laughlin. He was asked about what the Toronto Maple Leafs are going to do with Mitch Marner and whether he could see them finally trading him and breaking up the core.

FullPressHockey.com Transcriptions****

Gord Stellick: “So, okay, when they talk about the core group, a read on Mitch Marner. Because yeah, I mean, he’s got to want to go somewhere, and I’ve always disagreed with the criticism or the perception of the criticism he seems to take all the time, but that’s fine. I’m not walking in his shoes. It’s, you know, up to him to determine that, so I’m wondering, do you think he might be of the mind that saying okay, it is time, and that would be the one piece they would look to trade. I can’t see them being able to meet whatever demands he’s looking at money-wise given how cash-strapped they are, but when it plays out, how do you see it might play out?”

Jeff Marek: “You know, I wonder if at some point, and you’re right as of July 1, they can extend Mitch Marner. Does the ask resemble something along the lines of what we see with Auston Matthews? Perhaps a little bit south, probably perhaps. And you’re right like that’s that too much sugar in the coffee for the Toronto Maple Leafs based on the return. I do wonder if they at some point, go to Mitch Marner. And say, What do you want to do here? And are you still happy here? Would you like to be somewhere else now?

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To take that a step further. Whenever you make a move like that, Gord, you’ve been in that chair before. You know what it’s like when you make a move like that with a player of Mitch Marner’s stature. it’s tough to “win a trade or get anything back that is of significant and equal value.” I think that the Maple Leaf organization has probably had those conversations.

What do we do if we don’t bow out in the first round again? Like, I don’t think that Brad Treliving rolls up his sleeves Monday morning and says, Okay, well, this is a reality we haven’t planned for now; what do we do? I think a lot of these things have sort of already been in place. And I think one of the things that they do is, after a certain amount of time here of reflection and exit interviews and discussions, that they go to Mitch Marner and say is it time? Is this what you want? Do you want to be somewhere else?

And if the answer is yes, then I think they start to look around the league and try to accommodate Mitch Marner to their benefit as much as they can and if the answer is no, like he has the no move clause. He doesn’t have to go anywhere. Like I don’t know how, given he’d be on an expiring contract, and the media circus that would come along with it, whether that would be something that Mitch Marner would want to go through. The Maple Leafs would want to go through, but they just might have to essentially go through next season and then let him walk in exchange for a cap space, which I think teams now are finally catching on to as a commodity and not just “letting him walk for nothing.”

You’re not in no way, shape or form ever letting a player walk for nothing at a cap system. You’re letting a player walk and exchange for cap space, but make no mistake about it, these are very sensitive discussions. These are very sensitive situations here with superstar players, but, you know, it’s long past the time that the Maple Leafs sort of looked at this core and said, okay, it’s time to rip off the band-aid. This isn’t working. This is as good as we’re gonna get out of this group of players.”