Leafs already in hot water when it comes to re-signing Marner...

The Toronto Maple Leafs have yet to sign free agent forward William Nylander to a contract extension with less than a week to go before the start of the regular season. Nylander's agent, Lewis Gross, and Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas have been working on a new deal since sitting down for a couple meetings in late June during the draft weekend in Dallas. Fans are still waiting... 

Like the contract situation might look worrisome for Nylander, The Hockey News' Ken Campbell believes it might be a preview of things to come with another pending free agent and star forward, Mitch Marner. Campbell suggests the Leafs could find it difficult re-signing winger Mitch Marner next season if he continues exceeding expectations. In that case, he feels $10 million annually won’t be enough! 

"After watching Mitch Marner’s one-goal, three assist performance in a 5-3 pre-season win over the Montreal Canadiens Wednesday night, former NHLer Marc Savard, who is now a radio analyst in Toronto, had an interesting observation. He opined that the Maple Leafs should forget about focusing their efforts on signing William Nylander and get Marner under contract before he ends up costing the organization $10 million a year," explains Campbell. 

Just like his teammate Nylander, Marner won’t have arbitration rights next summer and his only leverage will be to withhold his services throughout camp and who knows, maybe the regular season. That could make Marner a tempting offer sheet target, “if for no other reason than to force the Leafs to match the offer, which would put them in a further bind with the salary cap.”

"But Marner could be really gumming up the works here, particularly if he continues to outpace expectations. Unlike Matthews, he never came to Toronto as the anointed one," adds Campbell. 

Cap Friendly indicates the Leafs currently have over $48 million invested in 11 players. We can only take guesses at what Marner would command on the market, and do the same for his teammate Auston Matthews, also due for a lucrative contract extension in the summer 2019. While the numbers are fictional for now, they will become a real financial puzzle for Dubas and Leafs' management in the coming months.