Maple Leafs Have Asked Mitch Marner About a Decision
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet joined Gord Stellick and Scott Laughlin on Sirius XM NHL Network Radio and was asked about the Toronto Maple Leafs and Mitch Marner. The belief is that Toronto has asked Marner for clarity on whether he will re-sign or leave.
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
NHL Rumors: Toronto, John Tavares, Mitch Marner, And More
Gord Stellick: “You know what I’m interested about, is in Edmonton would always get sensitive when the Connor McDavid going somewhere question would come out, and they go, Yeah, you guys in Toronto, you think, well, whatever. Well, now it’s Mitch Marner that could be arguably as great an unrestricted free agent in the modern era, that could be going somewhere.
I’m curious. Do you think, I mean, the Leafs are really talking positive big time about him, do you think they’re going to double down, triple down, aggressively try to sign him, and if that, or if not, do you think he could stay? Or where do you think he’s likely going to go?”
Elliotte Friedman: “Marner, I know, they (Maple Leafs) wanted to ask him for clarity this week. (Brad) Treliving is meeting with the media tomorrow, but I do know that it was their plan to ask him for clarity. They wanted to know, is there any chance of signing him, or is he definitely 100% testing the market? So we’re waiting for clarity on that.
Gordo, I think the Maple Leafs want to sign him, or at least take a run at it. I think they generally feel that he’s a good player and has been a good player for them. I think that the worst-case scenario kind of happened for this whole situation, where it ended badly, and crazy stuff happened on social media.
Like, the one thing I say to a lot of young people now, especially if you go into our business, is you’re going, it’s wrong, it shouldn’t happen, but you have to deal with a lot of crazy stuff on social. Like, it’s just baked in the pie. It’s the world now. You’re going to have to deal with it.
NHL Rumors: Toronto Maple Leafs, and Mitch Marner
But there are still some things that are beyond the pale, and that happened with him again, and I know that was everybody’s big concern, in the sense that might drive Marner to say, You know what? I’ve had enough of this, and I want to go somewhere quieter.
And I do think when the season ended, there was a lot of belief that that would be the way it played out. But until I know 100%, I’m not going to say that. But like I said, Gordie, I think the expectation was that he would at least test the market.”
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