Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman on Toronto Maple Leafs pending UFA Mitch Marner and pending RFA Matthew Knies. Is it possible that Marner is back next season? The Leafs must know what Knies is looking for on his next contract.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Friedman: “Now Marner. Just making a couple calls about it, I think that if the organization had their way, they would keep him.
There’s two things I think that are the issue. Number one, you have to agree to a number, and they haven’t been anywhere close on a number. So that’s number one. And number two, I do think that he needs to decompress, and does he want to stay? Like, is there any part of him that says it’s just time to go somewhere else?
Like, there’s some really stupid stuff that happens, like, there was some really dumb stuff that happened on social media. And I could see, I think what everybody is wondering about here is, is there any part of him that says, I just want to go somewhere where it’s quieter.”
Tim Micallef: “Right.”
Friedman: “And I think that’s you can’t make that decision when you’re emotional, but he does need to make that decision.”
Micallef: “Would, if Marner made that decision on his own…”
Friedman: “Yeah.”
Micallef: “… would that make it easier for the Leafs to keep Matty Knies? Because there’s a lot of people talking about offer sheet right now.”
Friedman: “I think so. I talked on the pod, and I think it was about how they could have traded Knies for Rantanen to Carolina if they really wanted to. I think they’ve known for some time what kind of, like I don’t think you make those decisions without having an idea of what Knies camp is looking right. I think they have a pretty good idea of what it’s going to cost to keep him.”
Micallef: “Right.”
Friedman: “And I, like they, if you’re not trading that guy for Mikko Rantanen, you’re taking care of (inaudible).”
Micallef: “You think they can keep Marner and Knies?”
Friedman: “Yeah, I do. Yeah. I think they could, yeah.”
Ken Ried: “Knies for Rantanen. Okay.”
Friedman: “I mean, look, the thing is, like, I always look at it Tim as, you decide what you have to do …”
Micallef: “Yeah, and then figure it out.”
Friedman: “… and then figure out. You can go 10% over the cap in the summer, and you figure out what you need to do.”
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