Bad solution to a problem! Keller would be the main part there no Doubt

A. Deal pls lol, and B the JT signing was the issue imo (from a non leafs fan's perspective)

ummmm that would barely even get nylander

The Toronto Media and Marner's Agent/Dad are the issues, Signing Marner to a deal around his $9M value solves any of the "problems" the leafs have. Marner is at best the 3rd best player -behind Matthew's and Tavares- on the Leafs and at worse the 5th best -depending on how you value Reilly and Nylander.-

So the OP is blaming it on the goal scoring franchise centre... you are blaming it on a different goal scoring franchise centre. Maybe the real problem is some unreasonable demands. Which is sort of how negotiations go. If having too many talented players is a problem then I hope the leafs stay knee deep in **** because I really like this team.

no , fans with no understanding of Business are the issue


Mathews scewed the league with his 11.6m contract on a 5 year deal that takes him up to his first year eligible as a UFA
Mathews in that move did everything he could to avoid committing to TOR like most former 1st overall picks do to their Franchise's like Mcdavid or Crosby did .

Mathews Selfish behavior gave Nylander leverage to Exploit the young TML GM
this inspired Aho to sign an Offersheet with MTL because CAR wouldnt accept his version of the Marner Contract leading him up to his first year eligible for UFA status .

Now Laine ,Tkchuck ,Marner and Point all want the same and it all started with the Arrogance of Mathews .
He's the problem , the issue is TML isnt smart enough to move him at a premium now and will wait until they lose him as a UFA getting nothing in return

Trading Mathews to ARZ right now who's a team desperately trying to make the 20 + year **** show in ARZ finally come to a point where they actually have a shot at a playoffs .(basically once every 5 years that happens but currently they look ready for a 3-4 year run the way they are built)

you could get a huge return with a lot of Key Pieces that will help TML go on a Cup run today with Tavares , Marner , Nylander and Kappanen leading their top 6 offense along with other new faces that were acquired this summer or the pieces from the Mathews trade .

Mathews was the quickest to 110 goals over the past 3 seasons doing it in 25 less games then the rest of the top 5 so ARZ will gladly pay to line him up with Kessel .

marner is the problem

Great points, you hit the nail on the head... The only thing I'd add is he could be the 6th best depending on how you value Andersen aswell.

I agree with you on everything except... negotiations is a give a take but Marner's camp is hell-bent on what they want and don't seem willing to budge.

you ignore context because the unreasonable demands all started with Mathews
the 5 year deal that walks him into his UFA status and allows him to walk away from TML ASAP
before Mathews this was extremely uncommon for players coming off their ELC's
even Mcdavid who's never really been happy that he was drafted by EDM did not ask for those terms as it screws the franchise .

now we got Point , Marner ,Laine and Tkchuck who are four of the best youth prospects in the NHL are all Expecting the Mathews treatment .

Mathews set the bar low for team loyality putting himself first
you cant blame Nylander and Marner for wanting to be paid to
it reminds me of when MTL paid Serge Savard a ridiculous amoung of money and low balling Dryden
Dryden sat out the season in protest and as a result his teammates were given a fair wage .
Savard screwed us , as Habs fans we all remember it and dont blindly protect him
TML fans should take note

I would say marner is the 4th best Matthews, Tavares, Reilly, Marner, then Nylander. And the biggest issue is Marner's Dad/agent who think his son is the best winger in the NHL which if they looked at his stats he's maybe 5th. Also Babcock for putting him with Tavares and inflating his stats. If he was with Kadri last season he probably puts up 70 pts and where not in this issue.

yup just like Mathews
but he was #1 overall so TML fans were just like '' pay him now !''
Marner out scores him the past 2 seasons ans TML fans are like '' who does he think he is wanting to be paid like the player he's beaten in production 2/3 years running ''
its hilarious

I get your point, but Matthews was willing to go 8 years Dubas felt more comfortable at 5 because of the AAV.

Marner hasn't outscored Mathews, but he has gotten more points although in more games played.

Wingers are the easiest commodity to get in the NHL centers and RHD are the hardest.

Our argument has nothing to do with Matthews being the 1st OA pick (that's just silly) it has to do with the fact that Marner “chose" to wait until last to sign and now we only have so much to pay him without further hurting our chances of competing.

Maybe Matthews leaves in 5 years but our window to win is 2 years as we likely can't afford to keep Andersen and it would be unwise to expect our prospects to step in and fill that void when neither has played a single AHL game yet.

As I said negotiations are a two-way street and Marner so far hasn't been willing to budge.

i get you see him as only a winger but when teams look at him they look at his potential to play Center like MTL did with Domi,Danault and Drouin with mixed results.
When i look at Marner i see him as potentially Domi's Center as in small sample's Marner's got good faceoff skills and Domi is ideally our top line LW because he's not strong on faceoffs and likes battling along the boards which is nice but as a Center when you do that you're leaving the center ice open a lot.Marners someone i'd like to see Center MTL's 2nd line with Domi-Marner-Suzki as the future top line .

Other teams would look at Marner and think of developing him into a Center as well i'm sure .
he played junior as a Center was drafted as a Center but TML was blessed with pretty solid Center depth at the time
with Mathews ,Kadri,Bozak there and its only gotten better so TML has no need or desire to develop him as a Center

but back to Marner its not only him not Willing to Budge . The NHL has a surge in high profile RFA's not signing
most notable RFA's left without deal is Point ,Tkachuk ,Marner, Rantanen , Connor ,Boeser,Laine , Koenechy,Werenski ,White ,McAvoy , Beauvlliier,Provorov,Lemieux and Fiala . Not all are hold outs like Laine,Marner ,Tkachuk and Point who are all on teams with limit cap this year and next year to work with so its bound to go on for some time to come.

Stamkos, Kessel, Tavares, Kane and Toews all accepted 5 yr contracts after their ELC ended.

First of all a 4 year deal would have walked him to ufa. Secondly it’s not an unfair deal. They worked with dubas to get a term and aav that would fit. I’m not going to bore you with all of the reasons why he is worth that money, I’ll just let him prove it this year. Do you seriously think Matthews would be rfa right now? Nope, offersheet July 1st. No doubt in my mind. Marner is a great player but he’s no Matthews. He deserves fair money and there will be a middle ground reached.

Oh and good face off skills (which he hasn’t shiwcased at the nhl level) does not make you a centre. He is a winger. His abilities are best utilized there. This is why nylander plays centre.

A lot of high profile rfa’s are waiting on marner thinking it will inflate their price as well. No one seems happy with Aho money and really he is a centre and difficult to use as a comparable. Hopefully dubas stays firm in negotiations.

So did Crosby, Malkin and many others. It’s not an uncommon term.

Arizona.... Who in the hell is going to fund it? Have you seen his contract? Lmao

So says the media... really you don’t know exactly what is going on. Much like the nylander talks where dubas was trying to get him at 6m and settled at 6.9m. Sure maybe nylander did initially ask for 8.5m but it’s not like he was sitting out till he got 8.5m. I sure don’t like the way Ferris is going about things. But you can’t argue it’s effectiveness.... I mean you don’t see anyone putting up agm’s with a 9m 9yr deal for marner very often do you?

Ranking Leafs players in terms of importance: Matthews, Tavares, Rielly, Andersen, Marner, Nylander.

5th most important....yeah if I'm GM I'm not giving Marner 11 million per.

Also, Marner isn't the only RFA and yet nobody hears a peep about any other RFA's negiotations.

It's funny that there are no ACGM's of Rantanen, Point or Laine/Conner getting 11 million for 5 years.

From what I’ve heard there is literally nothing going on between Rantanen and the Avs right now.

Leads me to wonder what happens if Mitch misses camp. Do other RFA’s start to cave and come to terms? What if mitch doesn’t start this season with a contract?

Would make for an hilarious comedy seeing these other RFA's try to scramble for deal so they don't miss much else of the season.

You know what bothers me about seeing so many Marner 11 million per ACGM's? Why have there been any ACGM's for Rantanen and Point getting at least 10 million? Point should be in the 10 million per conversation being as talented as he seems and plays C.

It’s been like that for a long while. Most agm’s had Rantanen at 8m... lol. You’re right about point though. Vas certainly didn’t take the Tampa discount.

First, that offer is not enough for Matthews.
Seconddly, not be trading right now is the other.

There is is chance towards the end of the deal he will get moved, but need to see how things unfold before that happens.


If a franchise goal scoring centre is problem, I want that problem all day.
@Jamiepo is 100% right Matthews would have been offer sheeted immediately.

If Marner doesnt sign before training camp, leverage is going to float even more to Dubas as cap hit becomes of set number then even now.
Marner's best interest is to sign before.


And since when does an injured TVR have this value?
He is 3rd pair D at best.