Pretty sure you have to wait til January 1st to do that

Unless i read the rules incorrectly if Marner signs before June 30th 11:59pm EST he can sign a contract extension as soon as July 1st, if it is after June 30th 11:59pm EST Marner must wait until Jan 1st

channeling the inner lawyer...he did say announce
Could mean handshake deal, something an organization could not back out of after a public announcement
bad look to mistreat a core player
....and sign after Jan 1

I am sure there are handshake deals that are very normal in the NHL, i find it personally very hard to believe that 30-50 UFA players come to an agreement on Term/AAV, Language of the contract then sign said contract within 1-2 hours of Free Agency opening.

I dont see how that mistreats a core player either, both get what they Want/Need. TML gets a cheaper year 1 AAV while signing a core player to a long term contract

Marner gets his long term deal with 11m+ AAV (I consider that excessive) as a Bonus for saying "Thanks for helping us so here is some extra cash"

His contract for 2019 can come any time. The extension can't be signed until January 1, 2020. That's how it works in a cap system.

Hey doc are you willing to do the habs for your prospect analysis!! could be sick thx