Toronto Maple Leafs: Rumour of a 3 Year Marner Deal “On the Table”

The never ending Mitch Marner vs Toronto Maple Leafs saga continues.

With Auston Matthews and William Nylander locked into long-term deals, the Toronto Maple Leafs just need to lock up Marner and they’ll have succeeded in keeping their “Big Three” intact.

While the never ending will-they-or-won’t they is approaching Ross and Rachel proportions, the upside is that, eventually, the Leafs will have done something hardly anyone thought they could pull off:

Signing all three players without resorting to trading one.

Nevertheless, it is September, the season is about to get underway in less than a month, and the Leafs third-best player is still without a contract.

But maybe there is hope of a deal…

Toronto Maple Leafs and Mitch Marner

According to Elliotte Friedman, the Leafs do have a three-year offer on the table.

Now depending on who you listen to, this deal may or may not be for $9.5 million annually.

That is a horrendous deal.

I’ve suggested that the Leafs just “shut up and pay Marner” because he’s really good, and he’s a hometown kid, and they need him.

They’ve got a real chance to win the Stanley Cup, and putting that at risk to save a small amount of money seems foolish.  Especially since, as long as you don’t overpay for your mid-tier players, you can get away with slightly overpaying your elite ones, if you have to.

But $9.5 on just three years?

That is a drastic overpay so absurd it’s hard to believe it’s even real.

Mitch Marner might be worth $2.5 more than William Nylander, maybe, if he signed for the full eight years (Nylander is only signed for six).

But on a three year deal?

That’s crazy.

It is sensible to overpay for a player if you think that, as time goes by, as the cap goes up, he’ll be locked in at a price that his worth will eventually exceed.

If the Leafs sign Marner for $11 million over six or eight years, it’s an overpay, but at least there’s a chance it turns into a team-friendly number as time goes by.

But $9.5 for three years?  The Leafs would be overpaying, but not getting any term back in exchange.  It’s a terrible deal.

Nikita Kucherov – who is better than Marner, and likely always will be – is signed for $9.5 over eight years, on a deal that hasn’t even kicked in yet.

If Marner want’s a little more to sign for eight years, give it to him – he is younger.  But paying him as Kucherov’s equal for just three years seems stupid.

If the Toronto Maple Leafs and Marner are really considering a bridge deal, hopefully it’s for a dollar amount that is quite a bit more team friendly.