Rumoured Marner Contract Demand Could Be Big Reason Why the Leafs are Fine with a Split

In December, Mitch Marner reportedly turned down a massive contract extension offer from the Leafs. While numbers were not exact, later reports suggested it was in the neighborhood of $13.5M per season over 8 years.

Unable to reach an agreement, the Leafs asked the 28-year-old to waive his no-movement clause at the trade deadline in an attempt to land Mikko Rantanen from Carolina before he was dealt to the Dallas Stars.

Although the Leafs wanted to keep Marner, and while he said he wanted to stay, his actions showed that he decided long ago that he was not going to remain in Toronto long-term.

According to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman, it isn't just the Leafs that Marner was not going to commit long-term to. On Sunday's edition of '32 Thoughts,' Friedman reported that a new contract for Marner may be shorter than anticipated with any team.

The former first-round pick is apparently not only looking to reset the market this summer, but like Auston Matthews, he wants to sign another substantial deal again in a few years to maximize his career earnings.

The difference between Matthews and Marner, however, is that Matthews did take a sliver of a discount and signed well before there were any trade discussions or potential of him leaving in free agency.

The shorter-term, lucrative deal that Marner might be seeking may have played a role in the Maple Leafs walking away from the table as they likely didn't want to deal with another back-to-back off-season situation where they have to re-sign Matthews one year and Marner the next.

Let's be honest, Leafs Nation would rather not be put through this exhausting cycle of 'will he stay or will he go' again in three or four years, so with that, we bid you farewell Mitch.