Leafs eye long-term deal with Marner over trade: report

The noise around what the Toronto Maple Leafs will do with Mitch Marner doesn’t appear to be dying down anytime soon.

In a radio appearance on TSN 1050’s First Up show this morning, Darren Dreger suggested that the Leafs would prefer to keep Marner on a long-term deal rather than trade him this summer or sometime next season.

Marner had 85 points in 69 games this year in the regular season but added just a goal and two assists in seven playoff games. He is heading into the final year of a six-year contract, with a cap hit of $10.93 million for next season, with the possibility of hitting unrestricted free agency next summer.

"I think Treliving would rather extend than trade" @DarrenDreger joined us this morning on #FirstUp and dropped a bombshell on the future of Mitch Marner! 👀

Listen to Dreger's full interview HERE: https://t.co/v8njLGMaNf pic.twitter.com/C97X1Ofwwt

— First Up (@FirstUp1050) June 17, 2024

“Now, if [Leafs general manager] Brad Treliving has a conversation with a club or clubs, and there’s a potential trade scenario that develops from those conversations, yeah, he could take that to the Marner camp. And the Marner camp could say, ‘Yep, alright, you obviously don’t want me, so I’m okay with that. And by the way, there’s a big extension that comes with it? Okay, yeah, fine,'” Dreger said. “And are we so sure Toronto doesn’t want to extend [Marner]? I’m not. I think Treliving would rather extend him than trade. But they’re not having those discussions yet, either. It’s still early; it’s very premature across the board.”

Marner has spent his entire NHL career with the Leafs since being taken fourth overall in the 2015 draft.

“I believe, based on the people I’ve talked to, and again as we’re having this conversation, Marner’s preference is to play out his contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs,” Dreger added. “It doesn’t mean he’s going to walk out the door after next year, that doesn’t mean it at all. Of course, there’s risk of that because he’d be a pending unrestricted free agent. That’s not the perfect position for the Toronto Maple Leafs, but Marner negotiated his deal in good faith, including the no-move clause.”

Marner spoke at the team’s end-of-season media availability about his desire to sign long-term in Toronto.

“That would be a goal,” Marner said. “I’ve expressed my love for this place, this city. Obviously, I’ve grown up here. We’ll start thinking about that now and try to figure something out.”

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