Toronto Maple Leafs Rumour: Marner Turns Down HUGE Offer

The Toronto Maple Leafs and Mitch Marner are still negotiating a contract.

Yep, it’s still going on, the Toronto Maple Leafs still haven’t signed Marner. As training camp inches closer and closer (it starts in two days), everyone and their mother is talking about Marner not being signed.

Toronto has reportedly offered seven and eight year contracts at $11 million and the Marner camp has said no to every single offer. The news of the day is that Marner’s camp wants a three-year bridge deal at $9 to $10 million per year, according to TSN’s Bob McKenzie.

Neither Marner’s camp, nor the Toronto Maple Leafs are budging at all, and if this goes past October 2nd, the Leafs might not be able to fit him into the cap this season without making further roster changes. According to Chris Johnson, if this goes to the middle of the season, Toronto may not be able to fit Marner in, even if they wanted to. That’s a big problem.

The Leafs and Marner need to get on the same page either before camp, or before the season starts if they want a fair deal for both sides. All of the players want him to sign, the fans want him to sign (so this holdout can end because they’re sick of it) and Kyle Dubas wants him signed.

How much is Marner really worth?

Marner and his camp think he’s worth a three-year bridge deal at $9-$10 million, but Leaf fans think differently:

“Toronto keeps offering Marner way more than he’s worth,” is a fair evaluation. With Marner’s latest ask, it would be the richest bridge deal in NHL history. I don’t think the Leafs and Dubas are ready to offer that much.

Marner finished with the most points on the Leafs with 26 goals and 68 assists. He helped catapult John Tavares to a new career-high in goals and points. It was only two more points than his last career high, which was in the 2014-15 season, the same year he set a new career high in goals.

Last year, Tavares had 47 goals. In the 2014-15 season, he had 38. Marner was a key factor in Tavares reaching that goal total. He assisted on 25 of Tavares’ 47 goals, which is more than half.

The issue is that the Marner camp thinks he’s just as good as Auston Matthews, which he isn’t.

I’m not saying Marner can’t be the best player on the team, but we haven’t even witnessed a full season of Matthews yet, and his production per minute is far superior. Once we see that, it’s likely that there won’t be any doubt about “who’s the better player?”

If Marner still doesn’t have a contract by October 2nd, we still won’t be able to see how they compare. If Matthews can stay healthy this season, we could see something we’ve never seen before. .

Do they get a deal done before the season starts? Or does this holdout go on longer? If he is signed by the start of the season, we will get to witness one of the greatest battles within the organization. Who finishes with more points, Matthews or Marner?