NHL Insider Reveals Controversial Reason Why the Maple Leafs Missed Out on Mason Marchment

Late Thursday night, the Seattle Kraken swung a deal with the Dallas Stars for power forward Mason Marchment.

The deal was facilitated due to the Stars' salary cap issues, but the low cost of acquisition certainly had many scratching their heads with 2 mid-round picks not seeming like fair compensation.

Marchment was somewhat of a hot commodity, and while most teams were interested in Jason Robertson, the Stars squashed those talks for the time being.

With Matt Duchene having signed an extension, they needed to find a suitor for Marchment, and Jeff Marek explains the reasoning behind the destination.

The tax debate has been raging for a few years now, but after the Florida Panthers essentially walked through the NHL for their second straight Stanley Cup on the backs of some shrewd moves at the deadline, the conversation was reignited.

Marek notes that Stars GM Jim Nill sent Marchment to another 'no tax state' club in an attempt to do right by the player, who supposedly took less money on his previous deal, and by not sending him to a team he didn't want to play for - or in other words, a team with high state/provincial taxes.

If true, that gives a team like the Toronto Maple Leafs a disadvantage at a crucial juncture of the season. With how shallow the free agent pool is expected to be this year, making trades seems to be the way to improve the team, but that got harder with Marchment on the move.

They were previously linked to Ontario native, but the Stars decided to move him to Seattle instead. It remains to be seen how serious the Leafs were, but considering they own future third and fourth round picks, they could have easily matched the offer.

With Marchment now off the radar, the Maple Leafs have to enter the draft and July's free agent window with the additional concern that players could be pushed away due to provincial taxes in Ontario. It was already an issue before, but this trade almost further pushes that agenda - something Commissioner Gary Bettman still doesn't believe is an issue.