Report: Marner the first RFA to meet with other teams since Shea Weber in 2012

Anyone remember how that worked out for the Preds?

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 4 years ago
Report: Marner the first RFA to meet with other teams since Shea Weber in 2012
Zuma Press

The NHL’s “interview window” for restricted free agents to meet with prospective new teams is now officially open, but don’t expect much action around the league. Only once in the past decade has a player actually gone ahead and shopped around his services around the league and… wouldn’t you know it, that player ended up with a massive 14 year, $110 million deal as a result.

We’re of course talking about Shea Weber and the ridiculous offer sheet he received from the Philadelphia Flyers during the 2012 offseason. The Nashville Predators matched the offer and retained Weber’s services, but he’d be traded too the Montreal Canadiens eventually due in part to his onerous contract. It appears now though, that we may have another “Shea Weber” case on our hands with Toronto Maple Leafs star Mitch Marner.

NHL insider Chris Johnston of Sportsnet reports that Marner will indeed meet with other teams ahead of July 1st, becoming the first NHL player to do so, at least publicly, since Weber in 2012.

Check it out:

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.


So, do the Leafs expect an offer from another team? Could the Weber scenario play out for Marner and the Leafs?

“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”.