TSN: Frankie Corrado on if there could be anything that Mitch Marner does to earn a mid-season contract extension from the Toronto Maple Leafs.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
“No, there shouldn’t be a Mitch Marner extension in the middle of the regular season. And that’s not exactly just an indictment on Mitch Marner. It’s more of the reality of the timing of how these contracts have come up and how the lack of playoff success has continued to follow this team.
Matthews got extended, yes. William Nylander got extended during the season, yes. But now we’ve reached the point where it’s been nine years of this. The team hasn’t really been able to get over the hump and you haven’t made the big trade.
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Now you have one of those contracts expiring in Mitch Marner, You’re giving head coach Craig Berube an opportunity to coach this core group. This team and these core players have proven every regular season that they are phenomenal players. The points will be there.
So what more are they going to show you during the regular season that is going to warrant a contract extension? This has to be about the playoffs. If the leafs want to get an extension done with Mitch Marner, they have to let this play out into the playoffs. See how things go from their things don’t work until they finally do work.
If the playoffs roll around, and Marner and the core group have a fantastic playoffs, then you’re talking extension. And you know what, you can still throw the big number at Mitch Marner and entice him to stay in Toronto. It’s not going to be too late. You don’t have to worry about losing that player.
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But there’s nothing more in the regular season that this group and Mitch Marner included, can prove that would warrant giving him an extension without seeing that playoff success.”