Toronto Maple Leafs: Selfish Mitch Me-ner Only Hurting Team

Toronto Maple Leafs superstar Mitch Marner has expressed that he won’t sign a contract in season.

According to Pierre LeBraun and the Athletic, Mitch Marner’s agent is not open to a contract extension with the Toronto Maple Leafs until after the season.

Mitch Me-aner really needs to get his priorities straight.

This is selfish behavior, and if he was any kind of team player, he’d give the Leafs a hometown discount, right now, and be done with it.

Also, has this guy ever thrown a hit? Dropped the gloves?  He’s no Ron Hainsey, I’ll tell you that.

In fact, it’s unbelievable that this hometown kid even wants to be paid at all.

And in case you can’t tell, I’m being sarcastic.  But if that kind of nonsense sounds familiar, it’s because that’s what was said, and is being said,  about William Nylander, whose main crime, as far as I can tell, is not being born in Ontario.

Marner Will get Paid

Mitch Marner is one of the best players in the NHL. (As is William Nylander).  Marner is among the best players the Toronto Maple Leafs have ever drafted and he is going to get paid. (As Nylander is and did).

How much and for long are things best left to people other than myself.  I barely care.

The fact is, just like William Nylander, he isn’t going anywhere.

It makes sense that he’d want to leave the negotiations until the summer where he can maximize the evidence of his great play.  If he was open to signing a home-team discount, he probably would have just signed last summer.

But players coming off their entry level deals have next to no leverage, and it never made sense for Marner to sign then, and it doesn’t make sense for him to sign now.

Sure, the Leafs would love the cost certainty, and Marner can make himself a multi-millionaire and minimize the risk of injury if he signs now, but he almost certainly bought an expensive insurance policy against his future earnings and he’s got nothing to worry about.

The Leafs aren’t surprised by this news, and to be honest, it really isn’t news because I think everyone was already fairly certain this was the case.

Nylander has a cap hit of seven million, and Marner is probably going to get one that is about eight, which makes sense.  It’s a year after Nylander, so the raise is excusable without insulting Nylander, and it’s less than Kucherov, who has averaged two points per game over the last 25 games and is on pace for the highest scoring season since 1996.  I like Marner, but he’s no Kucherov.

Marner, if he wants to, should hold out or do whatever he needs to do to get paid. I personally always side with the player – they are the ones we pay to see, they are the ones who have a limited career and the rare talent.  I hope Marner gets as much as he can, and nuts to the idea that he should take less money because he’s a nice guy or something.

It’s not selfish to maximize your earnings, especially when you play for a team owned by two companies as insidious as Bell and Rogers.  It wasn’t wrong for Nylander to force the Leafs to pay him, and it’s not wrong for Marner to do so.

Marner should do what’s right for himself, and hopefully that coincides with the Toronto Maple Leafs interests as well.  As a fan, that’s all we can hope for.

But if you’re still mad at Nylander, you need to give it a rest.  He’s no more or less selfish than Marner or any other player.