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The Toronto Maple Leafs and Mitch Marner…..yes, that subject again.
The situation between the club and their All-Star winger will continue to play out over the next few weeks, especially with media reports of intransigence on the part of Marner and his representatives to waive his no-movement clause and the Leafs to even approach him with a proposal unless it meets their criteria of fair value.
An insight of how this scenario plays out may have come from Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on Nick Alberga and Jay Rosehill’s podcast on Wednesday. Friedman indicated that obviously both sides want to come out as winners, meaning the Leafs want to get a representative return for a 90-point scorer and Marner wants to go to a place where he can sign an eight-year extension and big money.
Both those things are likely not going to happen in Toronto. Even if he does not waive his NMC, it is highly doubtful the Leafs will go down the road they went with William Nylander after they could not get the return they wanted in a trade, which was to re-sign him to a long-term extension.
Friedman also observed that Nylander and Marner are quite different. Nylander has always been able to tune out the noise of Toronto and the media and that little bothers him, whereas Marner is sensitive and can be bothered by the littlest things (like how perturbed he was when there was talk about what the injury was that kept him out a month).
Friedman rightly wonders whether Marner can handle that in a very important season. What happens if Marner does not do what Nylander did to start last season? What happens if he scores 70 points instead of his usual 90, is distracted after being asked every day leading up to the trade deadline whether he will waive, or starts to feel the ire of the fan base if it is perceived that this is Mats Sundin 2.0.
The other interesting speculation was the possibility of a team like Vegas as a potential trade destination. Friedman indicated that if a Marner-level talent is available, the Golden Knights would definitely be making inquiries and would be sniffing around.
Vegas continues to push the envelope when it comes to adding star players in pursuit of another Cup, trading for defenseman Noah Hanifin and Tomas Hertl at the deadline being two examples of that. It is likely that those deals will cost them players like pending UFA’s Jonathan Marchessault and Chandler Stephenson because of their limited cap space, and for that reason, someone like Shea Theodore could be moved with one year left on his contract, but if there is a way for them to get a player they think can improve their chances of another championship, they will try to find a way.
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