Insider shares new information on Mitch Marner and the Maple Leafs
Photo credit: Toronto Star
With all eyes on Mitch Marner right now in Toronto, everyone seems to be waiting to see who blinks first; the Leafs or the player.
After the Leafs' first round loss to Boston, Marner has been taking the brunt of the criticism online, regardless of whether or not it's warranted. The 27-year-old winger registered just 3 points in the series and was not overly noticeable in any of the 7 games, aside from his goal in a 3-1 loss to the Bruins in Game 4 and a blowup on the bench in Game 3 in the opening round.
With trade rumours swirling and fans preparing their best mock trade proposals, TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun revealed on Thursday evening that, as it stands, Marner has not been asked to waive his no-movement clause or prepare a list of teams that he'd be willing to accept a trade to.
"My understanding of the situation is that Mitch Marner's camp is not preparing a list of teams. They're looking at it as, 'hey, we've got a year left on our deal and we're going to honour it.'
The onus is on the Leafs front office to decide, 'are we fine just bringing Marner back and just figuring this out in a year when both Tavares and Marner are up, or are we going to be temped to look at what teams might throw our way, especially closer to the draft in Vegas?' And that's unanswered, quite honestly. Nobody in the Leafs organization knows how that's going to play out."
The onus is on the Leafs front office to decide, 'are we fine just bringing Marner back and just figuring this out in a year when both Tavares and Marner are up, or are we going to be temped to look at what teams might throw our way, especially closer to the draft in Vegas?' And that's unanswered, quite honestly. Nobody in the Leafs organization knows how that's going to play out."
Earlier this week, Leafs GM Brad Treliving confirmed that conversations with Craig Berube and Brendan Shanahan about the roster would not occur until perhaps next week, and even then, there's no guarantee that a decision will be reached quickly, especially a decision on Marner, who was drafted by the organization with the 4th overall pick in 2015. He's been a Leaf for his entire career and he's been a Leafs fan all of his life.
Marner has one year left on his deal at a $10.9M cap hit. It's possible that he'd agree to waive his NMC if asked, but there's also no guarantee that the Leafs will even make that request, unless they're presented with an offer that warrants them having such a difficult conversation with a player drafted and developed in-house over the last 9 years.
| POLL | ||
23 MAI | 626 ANSWERS Insider shares new information on Mitch Marner and the Maple Leafs If the Leafs opt to run it back with the same core, will you be upset? | ||
| No. New coach, new season, fresh start. | 345 | 55.1 % |
| Yes, I'll be mad. | 218 | 34.8 % |
| I probably won't even watch next season | 63 | 10.1 % |
| List of polls | ||
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