Leafs' brass wants to avoid Kadri-like debacle with any Marner trade: report
The Toronto Maple Leafs have a big decision to make over how to handle the Mitch Marner situation over the next few months.
Marner, who has spent his entire NHL career in Toronto since being selected fourth overall in the 2015 NHL Draft, has become the key talking point in the Leafs’ offseason ever since the team was eliminated from the playoffs last month.
Many fans and media have been quick to suggest a Marner trade, given his tough playoff performance and uncertainty about his future with the team. While both Auston Matthews and William Nylander have long-term deals kicking in next season for Toronto, Marner could be a logical trade chip for the team.
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 against the Boston Bruins. 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.
According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on the 32 Thoughts Podcast, a resolution isn’t expected anytime soon, particularly given Marner’s no-movement clause, which kicked in on July 1, 2023.
“One of the things a few people have told me is not to be surprised if this plays out over next season with Marner in Toronto,” Friedman said. “This is such a delicate conversation between player and team because everyone is determined to look like a winner here.”
Friedman added that the Leafs might be wary of their 2019 trade of Nazem Kadri to the Colorado Avalanche, who won the Stanley Cup with him in his third season with the team.
Toronto, meanwhile, ended up with Tyson Barrie, who spent just one year with the franchise, and Alex Kerfoot, who played four years in Toronto but never quite ascended into the top-six forward the organization was looking for, topping out at 13 goals and 51 points with the Leafs.
“I think there are people in the organization who are looking at this and believe, could this be Kadri 2.0? Where Marner goes somewhere else, the spotlight is less intense, he learns how to balance everything, and goes out and becomes a key player on a Stanley Cup champion in another city,” Friedman added. “If the contract demands on both sides are crazy, it’s going to lead to an eventual divorce anyway. I know there are some people saying he’s 100% getting traded, on Sunday, June 2, I don’t know if I’m so certain of that.”
Friedman’s final point could’ve been a slight rebuttal of Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli, who was adamant that Marner was all but guaranteed to be out the door from Toronto by next season.
“They have to make big changes, it’s not a choice. Brendan Shanahan said after the season ended, we have to consider everything, everything is on the table, that’s the message. I can’t imagine doing this again for a ninth consecutive season,” Seravalli said earlier in May on Daily Faceoff Live. “After spending this much on your core, knowing that it makes zero sense to even enter the season where you are either signing Mitch Marner to an extension or you trade him. To start this year in the final year of his deal makes zero sense. I think there’s a single-digit percent chance that Mitch Marner is in a Maple Leafs’ uniform starting in October.”
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