Comments From Leafs' John Tavares Could Influence Mitch Marner's Impending Decision

Hours before the first round of the Entry Draft Friday, former Leafs captain John Tavares signed a 4-year extension with a surprisingly low cap hit.

The $4.38M cap hit caught fans of the Maple Leafs and many media members off-guard, but led to an overwhelming amount of praise for the 34-year-old.

Shortly after signing his deal, Tavares met with the media via Zoom. The 34-year-old discussed his new deal before fielding a question about Mitch Marner and his potential departure from the Leafs.

Despite Leafs GM Brad Treliving confirming that Marner would likely hit the open market on July 1st, Tavares clearly believes there is still a chance for the two sides to reconcile and find common ground on an extension.

The two were obviously very close, with Tavares mentoring a young Marner, Auston Matthews and William Nylander when he initially chose to sign in Toronto in 2018.

Tavares' comments may not have been what many wanted to hear in trying to publicly persuade Marner to re-sign and run it back, but the Leafs will be hard-pressed to replace his production in their top-six and they were obviously a better team with him in the lineup -- at least in the regular season.

The Leafs were offered a meeting with Marner and his camp, but whether they choose to engage remains to be seen as they focus on locking up pending restricted free agent Matthew Knies to a new deal ahead of July 1st.