*******If you are interested in sponsorship or advertising your business in the Greater Toronto / Southern Ontario area on this column, please send a message for more information by clicking on the “Contact” button at the top of the page.
*******
Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving held court in Las Vegas on Wednesday as the club will make six picks at the 2024 NHL Draft this weekend, but the subject that continues to draw attention is the status of Mitch Marner, and whether the Leafs will trade the 27-year-old in the next few weeks, sign him to a contract extension, or if he will be blocked by the winger using his no-movement clause to play the final year of his contract in Toronto.
“I’m not going to speculate on anything,” Treliving said when asked about signing Marner to an extension on July 1. “I want to make it clear, Mitch is a superstar in the league and he has been that since he entered the league and put on the Maple Leaf jersey.”
It is clear that Treliving was doing his best to tippy-toe through the minefield on what the club’s plans are regarding Marner are, but what spoke volumes was not what the Leafs GM did said, but what he did not say.
“We said it at the end of the year, we are unhappy at how (the season) ended, but that’s not Mitch.” Treliving said. “The focus isn’t on Mitch. As an organization and as a team, we felt we should have gone further than we did, so when that happens, we look at everything.”
The NHL Alumni Association is heartbroken to learn of the sudden passing of Sergei Berezin at the age of 52 years old.
Sergei was drafted in the 10th round of the 1994 Entry Draft to the @MapleLeafs. He would soon show his spectacular play when he joined the Leafs roster in… pic.twitter.com/WoB3bn8X3S
While it is nearly an impossible task to parse what Treliving is saying, it is clear that he is pumping up the value of Marner and communicating that for a star player, the Leafs will require a return commensurate for a star player. This could mean that the Leafs are looking for significantly more than they have been offered.
For those anxious for the Leafs to make a deal, this is the same things that reportedly were said last summer regarding the possibility of William Nylander being dealt and that ended up with his re-signing with Toronto to the tune of $11.5 million for eight years.
Frank Seravalli said on the FAN 590’s Kyper and Bourne Show that Toronto will do everything in their power to trade Marner, but also indicated that this situation could last well beyond early July. As with Nylander, there is a line of demarcation when it comes to a trade being likely. Most teams will have exhausted their cap space in free agency in the first couple weeks of July. While teams may be more willing to step up their offer if they miss out of a free agent like Jake Guentzel, the odds of a Marner deal happening go down significantly if we get deep into the summer.
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»