It's Time for Mitch Marner to Find a New Agent
Mitch Marner has had agent Darren Ferris throughout his career, but it might be time to make a change in the most important summer of his career.
To say there has been drama around the Toronto Maple Leafs and Mitch Marner camp for a half decade would be an understatement.
The Toronto Maple Leafs top play maker is set to go into the final year of his six-year contract that paid him an average salary of $10.9 Million and is now a season away from being an unrestricted free agent.
The spotlight of Toronto can have its pros and cons; and this summer could be the defining moment in the hometown kid's career as a Maple Leaf. The relationship has been rocky since the beginning when former general manager Lou Lamoriello refused to give him some of the rookie bonuses on his entry level contract, followed by sending him back to the Ontario Hockey League when he would have clearly been the best player on the team during the 2015-16 season.
The decision to send him back worked out for the organization as Marner would have likely played the team out of the basement and lost out on getting Auston Matthews, but nonetheless it still wouldn't sit well with a player at the thought of losing millions of dollars when he would lose out getting to his second contract a full year earlier.
Darren Ferris Brings Negative Attention Towards Mitch Marner
With that being said, Marner's agent Darren Ferris has not helped his clients image within the Toronto market. Back in February 2019, the Maple Leafs were looking to extend both Marner and Auston Matthews. Within a day of Matthews signing his deal Ferris made comments about the now three-time Rocket RIchard Trophy winner not taking a team discount and that Marner would do no such thing either.
A deal could not be worked out before he became a restricted free agent on July 1 and then throughout the summer. In late August as players were preparing for training camp Marner was still unsigned at which point Ferris decided to throw more fuel on the fire by threatening that his client would go play in Europe.
Eventually, shortly after training camp opened Marner signed one of the biggest deals in Toronto Maple Leafs history with the six-year deal at just over $65.4 Million.
Now with just one season left on his contract, it appears as though Ferris is again using the media to make ploys for Marner's next contract. NHL Inside Elliotte Friedman recently stated to Maple Leafs fans that they should not be surprised if the contract plays out through next season. Whether this was Ferris who revealed this or not, he needs to keep this type of talk under control.
While William Nylander was able to play into the final year of his contract and even excelled when betting on himself, I'm not sure Marner could do the same. There has been some reports that Marner puts a ton of pressure on himself and that could be the reason he freezes up in the playoffs, adding all this noise behind him for entire season would not be beneficial to any of the parties.
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It would appear from an outsider that Ferris has added unnecessary noise and negative attention to Marner throughout his career, whether he thought it was for the right reasons or not. The smart move for Marner might be to move on from his agent at what is likely the most important summer of his career.