The NHL’s “interview window” for restricted free agents to meet with prospective new teams is now officially open and the noise surrounding unsigned Toronto Maple Leafs star Mitch Marner is reaching a fever pitch.
According to NHL insider Chris Johnston of Sportsnet, the last unsigned RFA to meet with other NHL teams was Shea Weber in 2012 when he was a member of the Nashville Predators. Of course, the result of those meetings was a massive 14 year, $110 million deal courtesy of the Philadelphia Flyers. Could Marner be headed down the same path?
Again, from Johnston:
While it still remains to be seen if Marner will actually travel for meetings in other cities, it’s clear that he and his agent want to get the lay of the land through phone conversations. That’s fully within their CBA-negotiated rights and it should finally answer a question that’s been asked repeatedly in this city and beyond.
Now Johnston’s counterpart over at TSN, Darren Dreger, is reporting that the Marner camp has heard from “multiple teams” already, just hours into the opening of the interview window.
Check it out:
Now… it’s worth noting that Dreger has come under fire recently for driving the narrative of Marner in Toronto’s market. The assertion is that Dreger is close to the Marner family and actively acting as a secret agent to help drive up Marner’s value. It’s also worth noting that the assertions are entirely speculative and that Dreger has not publicly acknowledged or dismissed any connection to Marner and his representation. Still… food for thought.
In any case, how likely is Marner to receive a competing offer from another NHL team? After all, the price to get him under contract will be astronomical… as high as four first round picks PLUS the contract that he’ll sign. The truth is nobody, including Leafs GM Kyle Dubas, is exactly sure how serious the threat of an offer sheet really is.
“There’s not a real barometer, I don’t think,” Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas said this past weekend at the 2019 NHL Entry Draft in Vancouver. “It’s a little bit of a new world and we’ll see what happens.”
Keep in mind that any GM interested in going the offer sheet route will have PLENTY of high end options aside from Marner. Sebastian Aho, Brayden Point, Brock Boeser and Patrik Laine are all RFAs, as well.
In Weber’s case, it’s believed that he met with the Flyers, Vancouver Canucks, Detroit Red Wings and San Jose Sharks before signing with the Flyers. Again, the Preds matched the offer and retained his rights, but it’ll be interesting to see how the scenario plays out with Marner and the Leafs. Maybe a decade from now we’ll all be looking back to the “Marner scenario” rather than the “Weber scenario”.
