Toronto Maple Leafs Run Into Major Obstacle With Mitch Marner Contract Talks
The Toronto Maple Leafs apparently ran into a major obstacle with Mitch Marner's contract talks, according to Pierre LeBrun.
With all the injuries in Toronto this season, some players needed to step up their game, and that's what Mitch Marner did.
Despite his linemates Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies being injured, Marner has been great this season, tallying 29 points, including nine goals, in 22 games.
With that kind of performance, fans are quickly forgetting how most of them wanted him to be traded after last year's terrible playoff performances.
Just imagine how mad these fans would be today to see Marner's 29-point tally in 20 games.
Unfortunately, that also means the Leafs could have more difficulty signing him to an extension.
With his six-year, $10,903,000 AAV contract set to end after the current season, Leafs management reportedly started having internal discussions about Marner's fate with the team and what salary they can afford to pay him.
And with all the debates on Marner's value on the trade market, we bet the Leafs management would rather keep him than trade him.
TSN's Pierre LeBrun revealed that Auston Matthews' deal will play a major role in the discussions. According to him, with the salary cap supposedly set to go up player agents usually emphasize a percentage of the cap rather than an amount in negotiations.
That means that Marner could end up getting a higher salary than Auston Matthews, who earns $13,250,000 a year.
In LeBrun's words:
Agents typically emphasize a percentage of the cap rather than a fixed amount, which could push Marner's ask above Matthews' AAV. For comparison, Mikko Rantanen with the Avalanche faces a similar situation, as his team has Nathan MacKinnon at $12.6M/year. Rantanen reportedly believes he could earn $14M on the open market, and Marner's value might follow a similar trajectory. The Leafs face a tough decision: balancing their salary structure while ensuring they retain one of their top stars."
Listen to his full intervention in the link below:
Marner has been great for the Leafs, but we honestly believe that Mathews deserves to be paid more.
If Marner's agent asks for more than what Matthews is earning, this could be what finally pushes the player out of the Toronto Maple Leafs organization.
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Taylor Hall | 3 | - | 3 | |
| Brayden Point | 3 | - | 3 | |
| Brock Nelson | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Bryan Rust | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Pavel Zacha | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Quinn Hughes | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Carter Verhaeghe | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Erik Karlsson | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Elias Lindholm | - | 3 | 3 | |
| David Pastrnak | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Tim Stutzle | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Adam Gaudette | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Dylan Holloway | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Brad Marchand | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Aleksander Barkov | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Sam Bennett | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Sean Couturier | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Alex DeBrincat | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jack Drury | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Cutter Gauthier | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 23 | 18 | 5 | - | 36 | |
Hurricanes | 22 | 16 | 5 | 1 | 33 | |
Wild | 22 | 14 | 4 | 4 | 32 | |
Devils | 25 | 15 | 8 | 2 | 32 | |
Capitals | 22 | 15 | 6 | 1 | 31 | |
Golden Knights | 23 | 14 | 6 | 3 | 31 | |
Maple Leafs | 22 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 28 | |
Flames | 23 | 12 | 7 | 4 | 28 | |
Panthers | 23 | 13 | 9 | 1 | 27 | |
Kings | 23 | 12 | 8 | 3 | 27 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||