Leafs blame Marner for waiting too long on new contract?!

They better tread carefully… they need him next season.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 4 years ago
Leafs blame Marner for waiting too long on new contract?!
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The Toronto Maple Leafs claim that their first priority this offseason is signing forward Mitch Marner to a contract extension. 

However, they better tread carefully and watch what they tell insiders in the meantime, as he remains unsigned and wanted to wait until the season was over to get talks going. 

NHL insider Elliotte Friedman reported in his latest 31 Thoughts podcast on Sportsnet that the Leafs have said to be disappointed the situation with Marner has gotten to this point. They expected Marner to be “a Toronto kid who wanted to play for the Leafs” and they did not anticipate getting a deal done would be so hard. 


After the Leafs were eliminated in seven games at the hands of the Boston Bruins in the first round, it did not take long for Sportsnet's Nick Kypreos to pity the poor Marner, whom he said  in a no-win situation and that he faces tough issues ahead of his contract extension talks with general manager Kyle Dubas. 

“One that really dictates where any of this goes is Mitch Marner, he started off on Hockey Central at Noon. “Where do they go with that? I kind of feel sorry for the kid right now… 
“You ask for the money you know you deserve, you can end up looking like a selfish guy that can derail the whole salary cap. And if you don’t ask for what you know you deserve, you might have a little tough time looking at yourself in the mirror, right?”

However, the Leafs cannot take him for granted. After leading the Leafs with 94 points this seaosn,  it is believed that Marner’s agents have been prepared to ask for Auston Matthews money — $11.6 million a year.

The Leafs, meanwhile, probably don't want to see him surpassing Chicago Blackhawks’ Patrick Kane’s price tag of $10.5 million. They would prefer something similar to Vegas Golden Knights' Mark Stone or Tampa Bay Lightning's Nikita Kucherov ($9.5 million)... however they have the luxury to play in no-tax states.  

The Maple Leafs have over $74.2 million invested in 17 players for 2019-20, which means they have less than $9 million to work with should the salary cap reach the projected $83 million. They don’t have a lot of things going their way… 

Therefore they should be careful with what they say about Marner… Don’t blame the guy. Get your numbers in order and give him a good offer. 

Source: Sportsnet