Leafs considering sign & trade with bitter rival for Mitch Marner.

You can probably chalk this one up as one of the biggest rumors of the summer, a rumor so massive that it could drastically impact the future of two teams in the National Hockey League.

As most of you reading this will already know, many of the NHL's top executives descended on the City of Buffalo over the weekend as they all sought to gather information on the next generation of NHL stars at the league's annual scouting combine. This gives those same executives an opportunity to meet with one another face to face and discuss potential deals ahead of next season.

It sounds like some of the discussions that took place at the scouting combine this year involve some pretty major players in the NHL landscape, including one particular rumored trade deal that would take place between two extremely unlikely trade partners.

Cam Robinson of Elite Prospects, who were all over the scouting combine as per usual, dropped a bombshell report over the weekend that linked the Toronto Maple Leafs to a massive trade involving one of their most bitter rivals.

From Robinson:

There’s real smoke that the Florida Panthers could be gearing up to make a run at Marner. Word is that Toronto has opened the door to a sign-and-trade scenario, where they ink Marner to a max-term extension (eight years) and then flip him to recoup some level of value.

This is an extremely interesting scenario to say the least, one that provides the Maple Leafs with some potential upside when it comes to losing Mitch Marner while also having a considerable downside attached to it. Would Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving really be willing to help out a divisional rival by working out a sign and trade that would allow Florida to offer Marner an 8th year, lowering his overall cap hit in the process?

I suppose the answer to that question would depend entirely on the kind of return the Maple Leafs could expect for making such a move, but this one has potential catastrophe written all over it as far as I am concerned.

Should the Leafs consider this move? Would it be a big mistake? Let me know what you think in the comments.