The Toronto Maple Leafs are eight days away from doing one of the stupidest things in the history of a franchise that is basically most well-known for doing stupid things.
While allowing the second best player in the history of the Toronto Maple Leafs franchise to start the season without a contract would not quite be an achievement on par with losing 11 straight games with a chance to make the next round of the playoffs, or perhaps choosing, on purpose, to pass on Joe Sakic in favor of Luke Richardson, those things had a degree of bad-luck to them, whereas this is a completely self-inflicted wound.
Starting the season without a contract for Marner risks walking an un-tradable player to free-agency and losing him for nothing. It creates a distraction the likes of which the team has never seen before, and it runs the risk of him playing so well that his price goes up.
Compare that to the benefits, of which there are zero, and you can start to see why this is such a weak move by the franchise. Sure, Marner is a little unpopular right now with loud fans, and sure, no one is going to LOVE an eight year deal at $12 million dollars annually for a guy with no playoff success to his name, but considering the choices, this is a no-brainer and it's pathetic and a sign of incompetence that it hasn't yet gotten done.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have 8 days to sign Mitch Marner
What should have been the summer's top priority is still not done a week before the regular season.
The Leafs had all the information they needed to make a smart decision months ago, namely:
- Marner is a 100 point player who plays elite defense.
- The playoff thing is team-related and partially due to luck, injuries, and perception. In reality, Marner's numbers in the playoffs are great when compared to his peers.
Marner is signing for eight years at $12,375,000. Its the most obvious contract in NHL history, and the team has essentially zero choice in the matter. The fact that its still not done is preposterous. #Leafsforever
— Editor in Leaf (@EditorinLeaf) September 30, 2024
- In the NHL, you cannot trade players of Marner's caliber and win the trade, even under the best of circumstances.
- Marner has a full no-trade clause and cannot be traded.
- The price is already pretty much set, right in the middle of Matthews and Nylander's cap hits.
So to sum up, we have an untradeable player who needs to sign for eight-years at $12, 375, 000 annually with full no-trade protection. There isn't even anythign to negotiate. We know the term, we know the number, we know that the player can't switch teams and that it is untenable to start the season with him unsigned.
What the hell is taking so long?