At last year’s NHL trade deadline, Mitch Marner was faced with a not-so-tough choice. The former Toronto Maple Leafs forward was approached about waiving his no-trade clause. The purported deal would have sent him to the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for Mikko Rantanen.
There would have been other pieces in the deal, but Marner-for-Rantanen was the core. The Maple Leafs even had an extension in place for Rantanen.
Alas, Marner nixed the deal. He cited family reasons for not wanting to leave Toronto. It was a plausible excuse. But the subtext was that the former fourth-overall pick wanted to go to Vegas. And agreeing to a deal to the Hurricanes, even if it was for the end of the 2024-25 season, could have gotten in the way of that.
Karma has a funny way of working out. The very team that Marner didn’t want to play for was the team he faced in the Stanley Cup Final. And in typical Marner fashion, he was a no-show in the biggest game of his team’s season.
While the Golden Knights forward got farther than he ever had in the playoffs, it just seems like something out of a Seinfeld episode. Marner lost to the very team he didn’t want to play for. That’s unlikely something the Hurricanes were thinking about heading into this year’s Stanley Cup Final.
But it has to be a little extra sweet to see how this storyline played out.
Marner Blocked Trade Could Have Reshaped Maple Leafs
In one of those major what-ifs, the thought of Marner nixing the deal with the Hurricanes continues to haunt Leafs fans.
Had the deal happened, it could have significantly reshaped the Maple Leafs. The deal would have brought back Mikko Rantanen. Given the way Rantanen went nuts during the 2025 playoffs, Toronto might have actually gotten past the Florida Panthers.
Part of that purported deal was an eight-year, $100 million contract. Rantanen, for his part, had actually signed off on the trade. As such, the only sticking point in the deal was Marner.
Well, anyone following the situation at the time knew his goal was Vegas. Most likely, Marner’s agent advised against accepting the deal to Carolina because it could have gotten in the way of the Golden Knights signing him in the offseason.
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Vegas Ran Out of Gas Against Carolina
Ultimately, Vegas ran out of gas against Carolina. The Golden Knights played through two tough opponents in the Utah Mammoth and the Anaheim Ducks. Those first two series were taxing enough on Vegas.
The Golden Knights apparently steamrolled the Avalanche in the Western Conference Final. But that series also took its toll on Vegas. By the time Marner and his squad faced Carolina, they ran into a club that was relatively fresh and injury-free.
The results were evident on the ice. The situation tilted in the Hurricanes’ favor, and the rest is now history.
Things could have certainly been much different had a couple of bounces gone one way or another. However, the Stanley Cup Final is over, with the Hurricanes claiming their second title in franchise history.
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