Leafs to make this lucrative offer to Marner on new contract

Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas is staying up at night, trying his best to keep Mitch Marner on his roster after making it imperative to get him re-signed before July 1st. 

Pressure was added on last week when NHL insider Darren Dreger revealed that the young pending free agent was tempted to test out the free market and meet with other NHL teams during the RFA offer sheet interview period that begins on June 26th.

However, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman revealed on Tuesday during his 31 Thoughts podcast that the Leafs are getting ready to present him with an interesting offer. 

Friedman believes the Leafs will offer an eight-year extension extension to Marner before he can get a taste of the free market out there. He added that it could be worth around $88 millions or in that vicinity.

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.

It is expected that Marner will be seeking Auston Matthews money, he who agreed to a  $11.6 million AAV that he signed prior to the trade deadline back in February.  

There has been chatter of trading defenseman Nikita Zaitsev and even veteran forward Patrick Marleau, which would alleviate some cap space on the Leafs’ board. 

Marner, who has mentioned the desire to remain a Maple Leaf for a long time, could be unable to resist this tempting offer. 

Stay tuned…