Teams who failed to get Mitch Marner with offer sheet will go after remaining RFAs!

Fans in Toronto have been able to breathe easily since Mitch Marner signed a six-year deal with the Maple Leafs on Friday, however, several other teams and fanbases are dealing with star restricted free agents who remain unsigned with the season just around the corner. 

On Monday, Marner’s agent Darren Ferris revealed that his client in fact received two RFA offer sheets this past offseason, but elected to decline both offers. Ferris would not confirm which teams wooed Marner, but he did go on to say that leaving Toronto was never really an option for Marner.

However these teams might be willing to test the other remaining free agents as TSN insider Darren Dreger explained on Tuesday night. According to him, the two clubs who went after Marner with an offer sheet this summer might decide to present one to unsigned RFAs like Tampa Bay’s Brayden Point, Calgary’s Matthew Tkachuk, Colorado’ Mikko Rantanen and Winnipeg’s Patrik Laine and Kyle Connors. 

“I can tell you when I look at the Marner case and the six-year extension at $10.893 million and Darren Ferris, the agent, on TSN Radio to start this week talking about the reality of the offer sheets that were willing to be presented, I would wonder and I got teams asking me why this hasn’t happened. If a team out there who is perhaps targeting Marner looks at one of these other top RFAs now.”

The NHL season kicks off in just two weeks and we could have one last offer sheet battle before it finally gets started.