NHL analyst JD Bunkis of Sportsnet thinks Mitch Marner will be leaving the Toronto Maple Leafs in free agency.
Marner is in the final year of his six-year $65.41 million deal and will be a free agent on July 1. The star forward will be the top free agent available, and his name was involved in trade rumors for Mikko Rantanen, but Marner used his no-trade clause to block the deal.
After the trade didn’t happen, Bunkis says that it is likely Marner will leave in free agency.
“The lean here right now is I think he is going to be a goner,” Bunkis said on LeafsTalk on March 8. “I just don’t have a lot of faith he will be back. How can you possibly read this any other way?… I just think part of the way he would be leaving is because he doesn’t want to deal with this again. I’m out of here. It doesn’t feel like he has gotten the love; it’s always Matthews’ team. Matthews becomes the captain, and the market loves Nylander, they forgive him. And, the market loves Matthews. I think he would love to get paid a ton of money, because that is a way to show where your standing is within the league.”
Marner has recorded 21 goals and 58 assists for 79 points in 62 games this season with the Maple Leafs.
Marner Opens up on Trade Rumors
Toronto was looking to improve its roster at the deadline and they nearly traded Marner. However, the star forward blocked the deal and he says he just wants to focus on hockey.
“I wasn’t focused on it. I had a feeling that maybe something might happen,” Marner said. “But, yeah, I’m here to play hockey with this team, like I said, and I’m focused with this team. And that’s what I can tell you.”
Marner was then asked if he envisions himself with the Maple Leafs next season and he wouldn’t get into it.
“Like I talked to you guys, man, I’m not gonna get into any of this contract stuff,” Marner said. “I’ve been very grateful, and I’ve loved my time being a Leaf. So, I’ll leave it with you guys. And we got 20 games left here that aren’t going to be easy. We got to make sure we just keep our foot down on the gas here and give ourselves the best position to go into playoffs.”
Marner was selected fourth overall in the 2015 NHL draft by the Maple Leafs.
Maple Leafs GM Discusses Trade Deadline Moves
Toronto made two impactful moves at the trade deadline, acquiring Scott Laughton and Brandon Carlo.
Laughton will be Toronto’s third-line center while Carlo will be a shutdown defenseman. The Maple Leafs’ moves come after their division rivals Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers made big moves.
“You’re aware of that but you have to be careful of just reacting, right?” Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving said. “You want to get as many good players as you possibly can but you’ve got to be careful of just saying, ‘One team did this, so you’ve got to do that.’
“You’re aware of obviously what’s going on around the League and in your division, your conference and all those things. But ultimately the job is to do what’s best for you, address areas you need to address, within your team setup, (NHL salary) cap-wise, roster-wise, all those types of things,” Treliving added.
The Maple Leafs are 38-22-3 and in second place in the Atlantic.
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