Insider Reveals When Mitch Marner Is Expected to Announce Where He'll Play Next Season

Mitch Marner will have a number of suitors to pick from when he hits free agency on July 1st.

From bottom-feeder teams in the San Jose Sharks, Anaheim Ducks and Chicago Blackhawks, to playoff contenders and previous Stanley Cup Champions in the Vegas Golden Knights and LA Kings, each of them will at least get initial talks with Marner when free agency opens, but the process is shaping up to be a lengthy one according to TSN's Darren Dreger.

Dreger appeared on TSN1050's 'First Up' Tuesday morning where he was asked about the never-ending Marner saga and revealed that we should not expect a decision from Marner on July 1st, let alone the first week of free agency.

According to Dreger, Marner, his family and agent will begin with a rather large list, holding talks with most, if not all potential suitors before getting into deeper conversations with a select few.

The timeline provided by Dreger does somewhat explain why his charity event was cancelled for mid-July, but also means that Marner's decision-making process could lead to a very uneventful first week of free agency with a number of teams waiting on his decision before handing out other large contracts to the second and third tier free agents.

His comments led to 'First Up' hosts Carlo Colaiacovo and Aaron Korolnek calling it the NHL's version of LeBron James' 'The Decision'. At least with Marner being hesitant to speak to the media currently, we won't have to worry about him turning it into a 3-hour broadcast, we will just have to deal with another month of Marner discourse instead.