Why can’t the Maple Leafs, Mitch Marner get a deal done?
After the conclusion of a wild end to the NHL Trade Deadline season, one of the more notable discussions surrounding the Toronto Maple Leafs is the contract situation surrounding star forward Mitch Marner.
It was reported over the weekend that Marner’s name was connected to a potential trade involving the Maple Leafs acquiring Mikko Rantanen from the Carolina Hurricanes. However, Marner refused to waive his no-move clause, leading Rantanen to be traded to the Dallas Stars.
With that, the question remains on how much Marner’s next contract will be worth and whether or not Marner and the Leafs are going to find some common ground in negotiations.
The Toronto native is set to be an unrestricted free agent as he in the final season of his six-year contract which carries a cap hit of $10.903 million.
On Monday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk discuss what’s taking the two sides this long to come to an agreement.
Frank Seravalli: Mitch Marner and the Toronto Maple Leafs are willing to make things happen. They have to, I think, from a stylistic standpoint…What does this mean for the future? You have two sides that are equally saying the same thing. You have Mitch Marner, who’s saying, “I would like to be a long-term Toronto Maple Leaf. I want to play for this team.” Then, you’ve got [general manager] Brad Treliving over here saying, “Yeah, we want nothing more than Mitch Marner to be here for the long-term.”
Okay, so why aren’t we finding some deal to meet in the middle on? Is it possible that the ask from the Marner camp is so outlandish that the Leafs can’t wrap their brains around it? I can’t imagine there isn’t common ground to find. So, why isn’t this getting done?
The only thing I can come back to is that the Toronto Maple Leafs want to hold the right to do things in a different direction…if they don’t have playoff success again. They’re going to have to. To do this year after year, banging your head on a cinder block wall. I don’t know how many years we can say, “Oh, things are finally going to be different.” Then, they bring back the same team again, to not have any playoff success.
People say, “Why is that the Leafs would want to do that? They have such a good player here…” They haven’t come 25 percent of the way to winning a Stanley Cup, that’s the answer. You need a different fit. You need a different style.
You can watch the full segment and entire episode here…