Report: Insider exposes plan that could see Leafs lose Matthews by using Marner offer sheet

Oh. My. God. Pure evil genius.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 5 years ago
Report: Insider exposes plan that could see Leafs lose Matthews by using Marner offer sheet
Zuma Press

If the contentious negotiations between William Nylander and the Toronto Maple Leafs are any indication of what’s to come for Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner… well God help us all.

Nylander, of course, went through the entire offseason without a contract and waited until the eleventh hour on December 1st before FINALLY inking a new long term deal with the team. If Matthews and Marner take a similar hardline stance with Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas, the Leafs could be in serious trouble.

In a recent column for the Swedish language hockeynews.se, reporter Jonatan Lindquist devises an absolutely diabolical plan that would throw the entire Leafs salary structure out of whack. 

The plan? Have the Arizona Coyotes deliver a max offer sheet Auston Matthews. Nothing new right? Well… it goes deeper than that. Lindquist proposes first that Coyotes general manager John Chayka throws a max offer sheet at fellow RFA Marner, once the Leafs match that deal they’ll be so cash and cap strapped that there’s no way they’ll be able to match a max deal for Matthews as well.

Here’s how it could play out, according to Lindquist:

So let's stick to the Marner scenario. What happens is the following.

1.Marner says no and nothing happens at all.
2. Marner signs and Toronto does not match, and then Arizona suddenly has Mitch Marner).
3. Marner signs, Toronto matches and Coyotes can then immediately try to throw themselves over Matthews.


Not a bad little strategy, and frankly… it’s something I could see the Coyotes pulling under a creative mind like Chayka. You can bet though that, especially given all he’s gone through to sign Nylander, Dubas won’t be interested in letting both Marner and Matthews go unsigned for long.

In any case, it’s a remarkably creative idea and you have to imagine that one or both of Matthews and Marner will kick up some interest in the usually dead RFA market this upcoming offseason.

The press conference is ongoing, but we'll present to you some quotes from Dubas courtesy of TSN's Kristen Shilton: