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Toronto Maple Leafs Roundtable: The Marner Saga

By Mike Stephens

TORONTO, ON - APRIL 21: Mitch Marner #16 of the Toronto Maple Leafs skates during the third period against the Boston Bruins during Game Six of the Eastern Conference First Round during the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Scotiabank Arena on April 21, 2019 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Kevin Sousa/NHLI via Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - APRIL 21: Mitch Marner #16 of the Toronto Maple Leafs skates during the third period against the Boston Bruins during Game Six of the Eastern Conference First Round during the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Scotiabank Arena on April 21, 2019 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Kevin Sousa/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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TORONTO, ON- APRIL 16 – Toronto Maple Leafs right wing Mitchell Marner (16) as the Toronto Maple Leafs practice before game four against the Boston Bruins in their first round play-off series in Toronto. April 16, 2019. (Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON- APRIL 16 – Toronto Maple Leafs right wing Mitchell Marner (16) as the Toronto Maple Leafs practice before game four against the Boston Bruins in their first round play-off series in Toronto. April 16, 2019. (Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Getty Images) /

D.J. Llewellyn

Mitch Marner will sign with the Maple Leafs for what I assume will be nothing less than $10 million per year. He’s too important a player and too important a part of this team’s core to think otherwise.

Kyle Dubas is working on moving Nikita Zaitsev, Patrick Marleau and likely overpaid depth like Connor Brown as we speak. That is a lot of money that will eventually be cleared from the cap, opening up ample space to fit the assuredly expensive price tag of Marner. The draft will likely be when those moves happen, which could accelerate Marner’s timeline to sign. Once those headaches on our cap are out if the way, it won’t be such an issue.

When Dubas likes a player, he has no issue sticking to his guns when others disagree, and has no problems eventually paying the man, either (see William Nylander). This won’t be a situation where Dubas caves early and gives in to the outrageous demands of his player. Even if it takes a while, I’m sure Dubas will get it done.

Mitch loves Toronto. If he wants to give up playing with John Tavares and Auston Matthews, I’ll be truly surprised about our local phenom. He’s staying.

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