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Jackets failure to offer sheet Marner a good sign towards deal with Leafs

July 13, 2019, 1:04 PM ET [146 Comments]
Mike Augello
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The fact that the Columbus Blue Jackets were interested in extending an offer sheet to Mitch Marner should come as no surprise, but the fact that they did not do so after looking into the possibility has to be considered a positive sign for the Toronto Maple Leafs eventually getting their leading scorer signed to a new deal.

The report earlier this week from Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman that the Blue Jackets explored the offer sheet option with the 22-year-old winger was confirmed by The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline on Friday.

Friedman indicated that Columbus was interested in signing Marner for the maximum seven years, but that Marner’s camp is looking for a deal with a shorter term, which would allow the Leafs leading scorer to get another big payday in his mid-20”s.

Portzline reports that the Blue Jackets believed that the Leafs would be willing to match any offer sheet extended to Marner and there are no indications that the winger really wants to leave Toronto, but wants the best deal that he can negotiate.

Although it is still likely that negotiations could drag on through the summer, the factors behind the Blue Jackets and Marner not coming to an agreement on an offer sheet increase the chances of a deal getting signed with Toronto. As it stands now, the Marner camp does not appear willing to agree to a long-term deal unless the salary is in the neighborhood of John Tavares $11 Million or Auston Matthews $11.634 Million AAV and no team appears willing to give the winger a salary close to that on a four-or-five year deal.

The Leafs have discussed a bridge deal of two or three years and a long term deal of six years or more with the winger, but they are not interested in walking Marner to the doorstep of free agency with a four-year deal or a five-year term that would have him become a UFA the same summer as Matthews and William Nylander.

The fact that a high-salaried offer sheet would make Marner the highest-paid winger in the NHL (more than Patrick Kane, Nikita Kucherov and Mark Stone) gives other teams as much pause as it does Leafs GM Kyle Dubas and it becomes increasingly unlikely as teams lock up their own restricted free agents and salary cap room becomes more scarce as teams continue to add players closer to training camp.

If the chatter is out there that the Leafs will match any offer sheet short of paying Marner more than Connor McDavid, why would another team waste their time?

GM Kyle Dubas has adopted Raptors GM Masai Ujiri’s dispassionate approach with the move of longtime Leaf Nazem Kadri for defenseman Tyson Barrie and trading the club’s 2020 first-round pick to clear out the salary of veteran Patrick Marleau, with the main focus on putting the best team on the field/court/ice. In the case of the Marner situation, the Leafs will be their best with him as part of the current group, which means Dubas will go to any length to keep him in the fold.

Portzline hinted that the Leafs might go as far as trading Nylander if it were necessary to clear cap space to keep Marner in the fold and based on Dubas’ current philosophy, it is not an impossibility.

Toronto proved in the first two months of last season that they could survive and thrive without Nylander in the lineup, but it is unknown whether that would be the case without their leading scorer.


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