3 things the Toronto Maple Leafs need to do before Training Camp

Resolve the Mitch Marner Situation

It blows my mind that I have to keep bringing this up. The Leafs are out of options, so I can't really fathom why this is taking so long.

Let's review: Mitch Marner is the second best player in the history of the Leafs organization and if he remains here for his entire career he will be the franchise's top scorer of all time. He has been prevented from scoring 100 points in four straight years only by injuries and the Pandemic.

He scores almost as much as David Pastrnak, Mikko Rantanen and Nikita Kucherov do, and he plays elite defense. Marner is one great playoff season away from being considered the NHL's best winger, and entering the best player converation with McDavid, Matthews and MacKinnon.

In fact, his career closely mirrors MacKinnon's, who absolutely exploded in his 9th year, the year Marner is just about to enter.

The Leafs can't trade him because they lose a Marner Trade 100% of the time. It's not an option. Making it worse, their GM is clearly afraid to make a trade ever since the last one he made turned the Florida Panthers into Stanley Cup winners. Oh and he has a FULL NO MOVEMENT CLAUSE.

The Leafs can't enter the season with him unsigned and risk walking him to free-agency. It will not only be a major distraction, but every great game. Marner has will ohly drive the price up.

So they are left with the best worse option, which is to enter contract negotiations from a position of weakness and just bite the bullet.

The Leafs must sign Marner to an eight-year contract extention and accept that no one is going to like the cap hit until he lifts the Stanley Cup into the air, which, I guarantee you, he will.