The Toronto Maple Leafs offered Mitch Marner a seven and eight year deal in the $11 million range.
After months of having Marner’s agent negotiating through the media, the Toronto Maple Leafs finally leaked numbers of their own (via Bob McKenzie).
The result is that Mitch Marner looks extremely bad.
Ridiculous. Greedy. Delusional. Selfish.
Those are just some of the words being thrown around. (That I can print).
Without the Hall of Fame resume that Tavares has, Marner has turned down essentially the same contract, to play for his home town, Cup contending team – as well as all the adoration and endorsement money that would come with.
While the majority of Marner’s fans are children and people who can’t afford to buy a jersey, let alone tickets to a game, he’s turning down money that is equal to players who are significantly better than he is.
Whether Marner is an egotistical jerk, or whether he’s being controlled by a father and agent who do not have his best interests in mind is up for debate.
What is not up for debate is that Marner has lost the public relations battle and is coming off horribly.
Leafs and Marner
Bob McKenzie is a Canadian legend on par with Gord Downie and Wayne Gretzky, which is weird, but it’s true. The poor man’s Jay Leno is an unimpeachable source.
If he says Marner turned down Tavares money, you can guarantee that it’s true.
Darren Dreger, who is the only guy other than Marner himself whose reputation has been hurt as badly by these negotiations, has (whether fair or not) been seen as a mouthpiece to help Marner negotiate through the media.
This strategy has backfired, and now Marner is despised on a level usually reserved for people who make innocuous politically incorrect comments.
To understand how much this has backfired, consider that the homegrown, hometown kid with the 50 watt smile and fun loving attitude has lost a public relations battle to a billion dollar corporate entity owned by two of the most hated companies in the country, which hasn’t won a damned thing in over 50 years.
Do you know how badly you have to misjudge things to come out on the losing end of the public relations battle with the ___ Leafs?
The greediness here is unfathomable. But what really makes Marner look bad is the narrative that a grown-ass man is being used to further the ego of his father.
Luckily, no one will care if he signs a deal.
Marner might be hated now, but all will be forgiven if he signs back with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Which he better do before he finds himself playing stuck in Buffalo for seven years over an extra half million he won’t even notice or need.