Mitch Marner linked to Western Conference contender in latest report from Nick Kypreos

Let's get real for a moment here: Mitch Marner is DONE with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Can we all agree on that?

Last month, when asked about a potential return to Toronto, Marner wouldn't commit.

“I’ve always loved my time here… I haven’t processed anything yet. We'll see what happens.”

“It’s so fresh. It’s tough to anything right now, future wise. I was hoping to be playing hockey right now… I’ll sit down with my wife and decide (next steps) in the coming weeks.”

- Mitch Marner

Leafs GM Brad Treliving essentially echoed that sentiment in his own media availability. When asked about the team's makeup and Marner specifically, Treliving offered up some cryptic predictions:

“There’s some DNA that has to change in our team. If you keep getting to the same result, there’s some DNA that needs to change. That’s on me going forward.

“We’ve now started the planning, and it’s early, for putting a team together for 2025-26.”

Brad Treliving

So... with Marner headed to free agency, the speculation begins on where he'll end up this offseason.

There have been rumors that the Carolina Hurricanes and Utah Mammoth could be interested, but NHL insider Nick Kypreos reports that the Dallas Stars could be a fit for Marner.

From Kypreos on the 'The Real Kyp and Bourne' show yesterday:

"I'll give you a team for Mitch Marner: Dallas Stars. They can't score, they're losing a ton like Jamie Benn, they got room, they need someone in the middle in between Wyatt Johnston and some of the older players."

- Nick Kypreos

Here's the thing, Kyper...

The Stars are so capped strapped that they're considering trading off star forward Jason Robertson just to get themselves under the NHL's salary cap next season. How on EARTH are they going to afford a big ticket player like Mitch Marner?

Sure, Marner would help a team like the Stars get to the next level but they sort off addressed that with their blockbuster acquisition of Mikko Rantanen. To be honest, I think sometimes Kypreos just makes up stuff, particularly when it relates to the Toronto Maple Leafs. This rumor is just further evidence to me that Kypreos is so hyper focused on the Leafs that he has lost touch with the rest of the NHL.