Teams preparing offer sheet for Leafs' Marner

Toronto is facing a huge problem...

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Published 5 years ago
Teams preparing offer sheet for Leafs' Marner
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The Toronto Maple Leafs might be saying that there is a healthy dialogue with star forward Auston Matthews concerning a contract extension that they hope to sign before the Feb. 25 trade deadline, it isn't as simple when it comes to teammate Mitch Marner. 

During last night's Insider Trading on TSN, Darren Dreger reminded fans that Marner’s agent recently said they have no intention of negotiating a new contract with the Maple Leafs during the season. Which causes a huge problem in Toronto... 

"Yeah, an offer-sheet problem. We’ve speculated on that, specifically to Marner and Auston Matthews. Now, as we’ve reported, Matthews is getting closer to a contract extension and Darren Farris, who represents Marner, has made it publicly known that they have no intention of negotiation with the Toronto Maple Leafs until the end of the year. Look, teams around the National Hockey League are hoping that Farris is a man of his word and that there is negotiation until the end of the season or July 1st. I can tell you that teams are 100 per cent preparing an offer sheet for Mitch Marner. We’ll see if it gets to that point. And as we’ve known, the Leafs have made it abundantly clear that if it does, they will match."

If Marner isn’t re-signed by July 1, he will become a restricted free agent, making him eligible to receive an offer sheet from other teams. While Dreger believes the Leafs would be willing to match it, it could be a cap crunch situation for GM Kyle Dubas. 

Marner is having a breakout season in his third campaign with Toronto, leading the Maple Leafs with 62 points in 49 games - just eight short of setting a career high. There is 33 games left in the regular calendar, and the kid does not seem ready to stop producing. 

Since the 2004-05 NHL lockout, only eight players have signed an offer sheet. Ryan O'Reilly is the last player to be summited to an offer sheet back in 2013: the Calgary Flames signed him to a two-year, $10-million deal, only to have it matched by O'Reilly's team at the time, the Colorado Avalanche.

Ever since the chatter of a potential offer sheet has been mentioned, Dubas has remained adamant that the Leafs will not lose any of their core players to an offer sheet.

It remains to be seen how expensive it will be to keep Matthews in Toronto before he can move on to Marner and the potential offer sheet problem...

Source: TSN