Overpay then, overpay now.

They could have had him for under $10M. The fact that he's providing value at his current price point is great but doesn't mean he still isn't overpaid.

If he falters even slightly all the leafs fans will hate him again next year.

Do you think he might be a big reason why Matthews has taken his goal scoring to another level since being united with Marner......Name me one player in the NHL who plays 5x5, PK, PP, can play strong defensively and is loved by his teammastes and fans more than Marner and does more charity work for good causes for less fortunate in the NHL who are also in the top 5 of scoring in the NHL?.......He is worth the price of admission to watch him play his firewagon style of hockey.......maybe one of the most exciting players to watch in the NHL since Max Bentley.

Mark Stone. 6 points back of Marner, does everything mentioned above but for cheaper, and he's arguably the better player now. Marner will pass him, but Stone has inside track by a mile.

You sound like an accountant and worry about some loose change and not seeing the big picture......You do realize that Marner is the reason that Matthews will resign in Toronto and is a big reason why Marleau, Tavares, Thornton, Brodie, Simmonds and Bogosian all signed as UFA's in Toronto........Once in a lifetime the Leafs get a player like Marner who is priceless.....in terms of entertainment and asset value.

Mark Stone is older and can not do what Marner can do and is going to do in the future......Marner is an unbelievable young hockey player and is worth the price of admission by himself......Stone is a good hockey player but does not have the upside of Marner.

I was under the impression that the UFAs signed in Toronto because Dubas has done an excellent job pooling and acquiring talent and they believe the roster as a whole is as strong as it's ever been. Might have something to do with 4 of those 6 names being from in and around Toronto too, but I'll be sure to check in with Mr. Marner the next time I make a decision if he's this much of a hotshot.

Marner's the second-best Leaf and you're licking his boots to a concerning extent. I'm not taking anything away from the player, he's simply overpaid. They could have had him cheaper like Edmonton could have had Draisaitl cheaper: there was no precedent for Marner's contract when he signed it period.

Except Stone has been doing what Marner's been doing - for years - and will likely continue to do so for at least 3 more seasons. I even admit that Marner will pass him but that time isn't now.

Your inability to see past the Leafs is having a genuine effect on your reading comprehension. Fix it.

Marner led the Leafs in points in his second and third years in the NHL and would have led the team in points in his rookie year if he had not missed a few games as injured........If you do not think he is elite that google Mitch Marner Awards won in his last year of junior hockey with the London Knights and name me one player in the NHL who has ever won that many awards in one season before entering the NHL.

When you take these facts into consideration........and the fact that he is from Toronto and it was anticipated that the Cap would keep rising and it made Matthews happy ......you will realize why he was paid the big dollars.

I have never heard the Leafs management complaining about Marner's contract......He was paid fair market value which was negioated in a free market process and he got what he is worth and maybe a bargain if he keeps improving the way he is going.

The Leafs are building an absolute powerhouse team under Dubas and Keefe......and are light years ahead of alot of the other teams in the NHL interms of their decisions and organization.

I don't give a damn about CHL awards and neither should any serious hockey fan or player. Good for him, what has he done at the NHL level except play for a dissapointment of a team? What hardware does he have at the NHL level? What have the Leafs accomplished with Marner's $11M cap hit? A division title? Go piss up a rope.

Why would Leafs management - the group that put pen to paper on the overpriced winger - publicly state they were unhappy with the dollar amount of Marner's contract? This might be one of the stupidest things I've seen on this site. Fair market value for Marner was $8.5M. Precedent suggested he could pull up to $9.5M. Nearly $11M robbed the Leafs of one or two contracts that they could have on the team, but it's done. You're a year and a half years late to this conversation anyways. It's been widely accepted that Marner dogged the Leafs for money he easily would have made back in endorsements. He's an excellent young player, but imagine if you could have had him for $2M cheaper. He'll never be a bargain but he will be worth his contract. That fact doesn't excuse the fact that Dubas got suckered during negotiations.

If anything, the Covid cap makes the signing look objectively worse: the cap won't be going up for at least 2 more seasons - likely three - and you could have saved enough on Marner to find a quality 3rd line piece. I get that no GM can anticipate global events but if you have an opportunity to keep a player at a lower price point, why not do it?

I fully agree with this and have been continuously alluding to it. I genuinely wish my team - honestly the league as a whole - would embrace what the Leafs have been up to. Everything down to owning their AHL club and keeping it minutes from the big club and Leafs athletic staff up to data-driven decisions. They're an excellent club to replicate.

I think you need to look at it from a different perspective, would you trade Matthews for Panarin?
No probably not.
Why is that?
Because you likely consider Matthews a better player.
But Panarin is paid more than Matthews so he should be considered the better player no?
Well that's because Panarin can be considered overpaid
Ok but Panarin is the best left winger in the league right now.

See where I'm getting at? Marner is an excellent hockey player but his cap hit is still too high for what he provides, especially with a flat cap. Similarly Panarin is an excellent hockey player but his cap his is probably considered a little too high

Canucks just made move to shift farm team to Abbotsford which moves the farm team closer to NHL team to centralize operations and resources........I think the Oilers and Flames will be next as California teams have shifted their AHL franchises to California as well and making it more feasible for Canadian western based teams to do the same thing.

I think the Oilers finally have a GM who knows how to develope young players by slow cooking them in the minors until they are ready.....bodes well for the future.

I think you make a lot of good points.......I personally think the difference was that Panarin was over-paid to come to a bad team in the Rangers as an incentive........This is also what happened when the Panthers signed the goalie from Columbus.

I really think it is a waste of time arguing about whether Marner is over-paid by say $1,000,000.......who cares and at the time his contract was signed no one could have predicted a flat cap caused by covid.

People will stay over paid and then compare to him to underpaid contracts. One covid hit and screwed the cap. 2 I hated the contract when it was first signed myself so...

If covid did not hit......you would be saying he is an absolute bargain........you have to let the contract play out in full before anyone really knows if its a good contract or not.,,,,,just like evaluating a trade of players and draft picks.

I have full confidence in the contract because Marner is bringing alot to the table and also alot of intangible qualities that alot of CapFriendly members are not considering or even aware of.

Another thing to note it that we needed Keefe to have marner Matthews . And he gotten ALOT better on the back end

The smartest thing Keefe did was put Marner and Matthews together.......they both wanted to play with each other since their rookie year.

This is another example of why Babcock needed to go..........his own ego was destroying the team.......what a joke having Justin Holl sit for an entire year and sitting Spezza on his first game with the Leafs to play against his old team in Ottawa.

You are the one who brought up his contract though so calling it a waste of time is kind of contradictory.

I think I brought it up because it was making me sick reading all these posts before this season about Marner's contract.......or the constant trades of Marner on CapFriendly which no GM in the NHL would ever consider to do.

6 points less with lesser talent on his line. That stated, this is why I can't even place Matthews in my top 5 in Hart Trophy voting. He's a solid player, but Marner is more valuable to Toronto because he does everything and helps improve Matthews scoring.

“You’re never as good as they say you are, and you’re never as bad as they say you are.”

My biggest issue with the contracts Mariner and Matthews signed is they signed for under 8 years for that dollar amount. If you're paying them top dollar, you better get max term so someday the contracts look like absolute steals (e.g. Crosby).