While some might argue the first thing on the Leafs "to do" list this offseason is to decide the future of head coach Mike Babcock, he's likely sticking around. The real top priority is of course without a doubt the upcoming Mitch Marner contract. There's been debate back and forth on what Marner will get/deserves with some pointing out that Marner has actually been more productive and important than Auston Matthews. Matthews signed his contract extension earlier this season and it kicks in next year with a $11.634million cap hit per season. Most believe that Marner deserves the Jonathan Toews/Patrick Kane treatment getting the carbon copy deal Matthews did. However according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, that doesn't seem to be the Leafs' plan. In his latest "31 Thoughts" article, Friedman writes the Leafs don't see Marner passing Patrick Kane's annual $10.5million and would actually like to keep Marner in the $9.5million a season range similar to Nikita Kucherov and Mark Stone. We saw the William Nylander negotiations turn into a complete disaster last summer, and ended up hurting both the Leafs and Nylander on the ice when the two finally came to an agreement. Do you see Marner accepting a $9.5million a year contract, almost $2million less than Matthews?
