Toronto Maple Leafs: Mitch Marner is Switzerland Bound

This is getting to the point of ridiculousness for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

As I am not famous and therefore have no one who cares about my career exploits, I’ve never needed to hire an agent. In the event that I ever did, though, I’d probably choose one who doesn’t deploy a negotiation strategy that is so transparent and predictable that literally half of Twitter can predict each and every development months in advance.

That seems like a bad trait for someone whose sole job is to gain as much leverage as possible. Then again, what do I know? I’m not a superstar athlete.

Guess what, everyone? Mitch Marner is going to play in Switzerland this season! More specifically, the little guy is going to suit up for the Zurich Lions (Auston Matthews‘ former team!), given that he does not have a contract with the Maple Leafs.

It’s true! The internet told me. And it’s not like a Darren Ferris client would ever threaten to take his talents overseas and then ultimately fail to actually follow through, right? That would be absurd!

Once again, we are forced to report on another baseless attempt at posturing by the Marner camp.

According to Sportsnet’s Rick Dhaliwal, a number of the young RFAs who happen to still float out on the market have now begun reaching out to leagues overseas in an effort to lock down places to play actual hockey in the event their contract sagas drag out into the regular season. Dalhiwal notes that Marner specifically has begun to do this.

Let’s make something clear: Mitch Marner will not play a single game in Switzerland during the 2019-20 NHL season. It won’t happen. Ever.

Why? Well, for a number of very obvious reasons.

For one, Marner is a legitimate star player occupying the sport’s biggest and most lucrative market, and will almost certainly not go out of his way to potentially jeopardize his health and future earning potential by suiting up for a Swiss team as a negotiation tactic. It just doesn’t make sense.

Then again, after taking into account the kind of advice his agent has been feeding him thus far, pulling such a short-sighted move isn’t out of the question, either.

The fact remains that Ferris does this for all of his clients. It’s his M.O. And while the “threatening to head to Europe” stage of the blueprint doesn’t usually hit until September, Marner is far and away Ferris’s highest-profile client and the agent likely wants to get a jumpstart on things to up the heat on the Leafs.

Here’s the thing: it won’t work. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if Leafs management saw today’s news and simply laughed at it, having expected this to come about at roughly this exact point in time.

Even after an entire summer of nonsense, there is still a large section of this fanbase that still supports Marner with unconditional fervour. He’s a good player, after all. No one can blame them. But there are only so many thinly-veiled “reports” to be filed and public barbs to be lobbed before the last remaining faction of Marner supporters begin to turn their allegiances.

Marner entered this summer as one of the most universally-adored Maple Leafs in recent memory. No one had a bad word to say about the kid. He was the golden boy of the team’s current generation. That is, until that golden boy chose a negotiation strategy that is specifically geared towards painting the Leafs organization in a negative public light until they eventually succumb to public pressure.

Unfortunately, that strategy backfired. And now, with 24 days until training camps open, it’s hard not to look at this newest development as a last-ditch grasp for leverage.

History tells us it likely won’t work.