Leafs sign Mitch Marner to eight-year contract, trade to Golden Knights

The Mitch Marner era has come to an end in Toronto.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are officially moving on from their star winger, as they’ve signed Marner to an eight-year contract with a $12 million cap hit and traded him to the Vegas Golden Knights. In return, Vegas gives Toronto centre Nicolas Roy.

Marner was entering the summer as the top unrestricted free agent on the market, and was likely to be sought after by plenty of teams. With this trade, the Golden Knights jump the market, get the extra year for Marner and move out some money, while the Leafs get an asset in return for a situation where they were about to lose their star player for nothing, more importantly, a center that can play in their top nine.

While the Leafs had generally had success retaining their core pieces, it wasn’t a big surprise to see Marner take his time with a new contract. However, as the season dragged on, and tensions grew, it became more and more clear that Marner’s time in Toronto was coming to an end, despite being the hometown player.

Marner’s deal sees him get a raise of just over $1 million in pure salary, not to mention however much he saves with the lack of personal income taxes in the state of Nevada. He’s now tied for fifth among the highest cap hits in the league, with his other cap hit comparable being Mikko Rantanen.

Marner is coming off the most productive season of his career in terms of straight points, with 27 goals and 75 assists for 102 points in 81 games. He also had two goals and 11 assists for 13 points in 13 playoff games.

Roy played in 71 games for the Golden Knights, where he had 15 goals and 16 assists for 31 points. He also had two goals and two assists for four points in 11 playoff games. He has two years remaining on a five-year contract with a $3 million cap hit.

There were reports that the Leafs were going to go after the Golden Knights for tampering and communicating with Marner before they were allowed to. However, with this deal getting done, it’s unclear whether or not that will still be pursued.

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