'Hostility' between Mitch Marner, Leafs could see star winger leave Toronto, Bissonnette says
Article content
Now an NHL commentator, the retired enforcer says that 'a little hostility' between Mitch Marner and the Toronto Maple Leafs could lead to the star winger leaving Toronto this summer.
During an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show on Monday, the man affectionately known as BizNasty, shared his thoughts on the Pittsburgh Penguins firing longtime coach Mike Sullivan and what the team can do this summer in an attempt to return to the playoffs.
Bissonnette pointed towards Marner, arguably the league's biggest pending free agent, and his connection with Kyle Dubas, the former Maple Leafs GM who now runs the Penguins.
'One (upcoming top-tier free agent) that probably sticks out is Mitch Marner (who) hasn't signed yet,' Bissonnette said. 'He's a Toronto Maple Leaf. Kyle Dubas loves Mitch Marner. He was with him in Toronto.
'There's a little hostility between the Maple Leafs and Marner, based on the fact that they tried to trade him at the deadline for Mikko Rantanen, who was available, and they were willing to part ways with Mitch Marner, even though he had a 100-point season.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Global News
15 minutes ago
- Global News
Oilers fans from Down Under overjoyed to be in Edmonton for Stanley Cup final
With just hours to go until the puck drops at Rogers Place for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final rematch between the Oilers and the Panthers, a scene involving blue-and-orange-clad hockey fans arriving in Alberta's capital played out, with some making the trip from as far away as Australia to experience the NHL playoff excitement. 'I'm so excited,' Steve Patching exclaimed, detailing his epic journey from Brisbane to Edmonton and how he drank several cups of coffee in the morning so he would be awake for the opening game of the championship series on Wednesday. 'Can you imagine what it's going to be like if Game 7 is here? 'I'm amped.' Like many other die-hard Oilers fans from around the world, Patching said it was during the team's heyday — led by Wayne Gretzky — in the 1980s that drew him to a part of a community of supporters that fans have dubbed 'Oil Country.' Story continues below advertisement 'I saw Gretzky once,' Patching said, noting that the connection to the team also exists because he has family in Edmonton. '(The Oilers) had a pretty lean period … (but) now they've got the greatest in history with (Connor) McDavid.' Patching said he booked his flight soon after the Oilers knocked the Dallas Stars out of the playoffs by winning the Western Conference final in five games. 1:57 Edmonton Oilers advance to Stanley Cup Finals Richard Fairhead also arrived in Alberta's capital on Wednesday and also hails from Brisbane. He said he was on a business trip in New Zealand when the Oilers beat the Stars and he did what he had to do to be in Edmonton for the Stanley Cup final. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy 'I changed it all up to come,.. (I'm a) die-hard fan,' he explained, adding that he has been on six flights in the past 72 hours, seeing him use four different airlines and passing through three different countries. '(I) came last year and loved every moment of it. Story continues below advertisement 'I got permission from the wife so it's all good.' View image in full screen Richard Fairhead arrived in Edmonton from Brisbane, Australia so he could be in Alberta to cheer on the Oilers for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final. Global News Aside from fans arriving from Down Under, Oilers supporters are coming from all over as well, putting pressure on Edmonton's supply of hotel rooms this week. 'It's basically impossible to get a room (downtown) right now,' said Chris Yeung, the executive director of the non-profit organization Edmonton Destination Marketing Hotels Ltd. Yeung added that demand is also 'bleeding into' other areas. 'This year we have home-ice advantage for the Oilers,' he explained. 'When you have that, you have media availability day, you have all the broadcasters flying in ahead of time, … and they're not small groups. 'Some of the broadcast groups have 50 or 60 people coming in at the same time.' Story continues below advertisement Yeung described what hotel operators are facing as 'huge demand.' Patching will likely be staying with his daughter as he said he plans to watch Game 1 from her apartment's balcony which overlooks a plaza in outside the Oilers arena that fans refer to as 'the Moss Pit.' He said even if he does not have a seat inside Rogers Place for the game, the feeling in downtown Edmonton will be electric. 'Last year I went to a watch party inside,' Patching said. 'It was one of the ones they lost which really sucked, but the atmosphere was still incredible.' Fairhead said after his Oilers lost the Stanley Cup championship to the Panthers in heartbreaking fashion last year with a Game 7 defeat, he is hopeful there will be a different result this year. Story continues below advertisement 'Different team, different feeling,' he said, adding that even though he was 'a little scared' with how the Oilers struggled at times during their opening-round playoff series against the Los Angeles Kings, the players 'pulled their socks up and they've been playing fantastic ever since.' '(I'm) feeling great,' Fairhead said. 'The crowd will be amazing once again. I can't wait again to be deafened by (the cheers), … lose my voice again. The Oilers last won a Stanley Cup in 1990. No Canadian team has won the trophy since the Montreal Canadiens did it in 1993. –with files from Global News' Jaclyn Kucey
CBC
38 minutes ago
- CBC
Is it finally McDavid's (and Canada's) time to win the Stanley Cup?
After almost a week of buildup, a highly anticipated Stanley Cup sequel between the Oilers and Panthers finally gets started tonight at 8 p.m. ET in Edmonton. Last year, these teams delivered the most riveting NHL championship series since the Bruins defeated the Canucks in Game 7 in 2011 — a result that set off a literal riot in Vancouver. Fuelled by a Connor McDavid scoring binge, the Oilers became the first team in 79 years to come back from a 3-0 deficit to force a Game 7 in the Cup final, only to lose the decider in Florida by one goal. McDavid was named playoff MVP anyway (the first time in 21 years that the award went to someone on the losing team) after he broke Wayne Gretzky's record for most assists in a post-season and finished with the fifth-highest point total ever: 42 in 25 games. But the Oiler captain was so distraught that he refused to return to the ice to accept the Conn Smythe Trophy from commissioner Gary Bettman before the Panthers hoisted the Cup for the first time in franchise history. Coming off that emotionally and physically exhausting series, both Edmonton and Florida limped into this year's playoffs as the third-place team in their respective divisions. But, as great teams seem to do, they raised their game when the stakes increased. WATCH | Oilers could boast depth advantage in Stanley Cup final with Panthers: Oilers' biggest advantage is depth, writer says 1 hour ago Duration 2:11 Sean Panganiban, an Edmonton Oilers fan and writer with Oilersnation, singles out the team's biggest advantage going into Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final against the Florida Panthers. 'The difference from this year and last year is the Oilers' depth,' beyond star players like Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, he says. This year other players like Kasperi Kapanen are 'pitching in in big ways.' The Panthers mauled a very good Tampa Bay team in five games in the opening round, then overcame some shaky moments to blow out Toronto 6-1 in Game 7 of their series before dispatching Carolina with a five-game gentlemen's sweep to reach their third consecutive Stanley Cup final. The Oilers took a bit longer to get going, dropping their first two playoff games to Los Angeles before snapping out of it to defeat the Kings in six and then take out both Vegas and Dallas in a tidy five to become the first Canadian team to reach consecutive Cup finals since Gretzky's Oilers in 1987 and '88. So, while it took some time to prove it, Edmonton and Florida are once again the two best teams in the league and it should be another exciting final. Here's a look at some key talking points for this story-rich rematch: The stars are aligning for McDavid. It's rare for the same two teams to meet in the Cup final in back-to-back years. In fact, this is just the second time it's happened since Gretzky's Oilers ended the New York Islanders' run of four consecutive championships by winning their rematch in 1984. In 2009, Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins avenged their loss to Detroit by beating the Red Wings in seven. In both cases, the greatest player of his generation (and, in Gretzky's case, of all time) captured his first Stanley Cup by defeating the team that beat him in the final the year before. So, is it McDavid's turn to follow them? He's been the undisputed best player on the planet for years now, winning three regular-season MVPs and five scoring titles along with last year's Conn Smythe over his 10 seasons in the NHL. But he's long overdue for a Stanley Cup. Crosby won it in his fourth season, Gretzky in his fifth. Both of those guys had Hall-of-Fame-calibre sidekicks (Evgeni Malkin for Crosby; Mark Messier, Paul Coffey and Jari Kurri for Gretzky) and McDavid has his own in Leon Draisaitl. The 2019-20 MVP and scoring champ led the league in goals this season with 52 and is just one point behind McDavid for the playoff lead with 25 in 16 games. The historical parallels are too clear to ignore. It just feels like McDavid's time. But the Panthers are a borderline dynasty. Hockey fans who witnessed the Montreal Canadiens reel off four straight Stanley Cups in the late 1970s, immediately followed by four in a row by the Islanders and then four in five years by Gretzky's Oilers may bristle at the use of the D word. But we're in the salary-cap era now, where three consecutive trips to the final (and possibly back-to-back championships) is about as good as it gets. Florida GM Bill Zito has built an ideal team for modern playoff hockey — highly skilled, hard to score on and both mentally and physically tough. Star forwards Sam Bennett (leading the playoffs with 10 goals) and Matthew Tkachuk definitely don't mind mixing it up, while Aleksander Barkov just won his second straight Selke Trophy as the best defensive forward in the NHL and now leads the team with 17 points in 17 post-season games. Plus, Zito added an extra dollop of grit to his front end by acquiring prickly veteran star Brad Marchand at the trade deadline. Aaron Ekblad and Seth Jones lead a solid defence corps, and two-time Vezina Trophy winner Sergei Bobrovsky gives the Panthers a clear edge in goaltending over the Oilers' capable but inconsistent Stuart Skinner. The fact that every other team is now trying to model itself after Florida is pretty funny to anyone who remembers the last three decades of Panthers hockey. After making the Stanley Cup final in just their third year of existence in 1996, they went 25 years without winning a playoff series while playing in front of embarrassingly sparse crowds in their dated arena an hour north of Miami. The streak ended in 2022, when they stunningly won the Presidents' Trophy for the NHL's best regular-season record but got swept by in-state rival Tampa Bay in the second round. Florida returned to the Cup final the following year and fell in five to Vegas before defeating the Oilers last year to complete their improbable journey to the top. Now, Florida has become just the ninth team in NHL history to reach three consecutive finals. Before Tampa Bay's run from 2020-22, which included back-to-back Stanley Cup victories, it hadn't been done since Gretzky's Oilers in 1985. Will 'The Drought' finally end? To address a common criticism of this storyline: yes, we understand that not all NHL fans in this country automatically throw their support behind the last remaining Canadian team after theirs is eliminated. And, yes, many fans of the Calgary Flames (or Winnipeg Jets or Vancouver Canucks or whomever) would hate to see Edmonton win another title. We get it. But the fact that no Canadian team has won the Stanley Cup in 32 years definitely matters. This is the country that plays hockey better than anyone and cares about it the most, so it's a national sore spot that we've gone this long without one of our fanbases celebrating an NHL championship. I, for one, am tired of hearing about it. And it would be great to see someone — anyone — parade the Cup down our streets for a change. Especially at this particular moment in Canada-U.S. relations. So, will that be the Oilers sometime in the next couple weeks? Honestly, it's a coin flip. The respected statistical models give a slight edge to Florida, especially after Edmonton lost key winger Zach Hyman to a broken wrist in the Western final, though the surprising return of defenceman Mattias Ekholm from a long-term injury somewhat offsets that. But the more-subjective betting markets slightly favour the Oilers, and some analysts seem to agree based mostly on sort of a hockey version of the Great Man Theory. The thinking here is that, sometimes, the greatest of the greats simply won't be denied. We've seen it with Gretzky and with Michael Jordan in the NBA. It's easy to forget now, but even the GOATS had their doubters before they won their first championship. Their victories were not preordained. But they bent history in their favour, and now McDavid has the power to do the same.
National Post
an hour ago
- National Post
No friendly Stanley Cup Final wager with Florida's DeSantis this year, says Alberta's Smith
Whatever the outcome of this year's Stanley Cup Final rematch between the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis won't be wetting his whistle on whiskey courtesy Alberta Premier Danielle Smith again this summer. Article content On Tuesday, Smith told National Post she would not renew the friendly wager with her U.S. counterpart, who would have been required to send a bottle of Florida rum north had the Oilers completed their series comeback to defeat the Panthers last June. Article content Article content Article content 'We are following the lead of Captain Connor and are going to do things a bit differently this year,' she wrote in a statement. Article content Article content Smith is referring to Oilers' captain Connor McDavid, who, after helping his team knock off the Dallas Stars 4-1 in the best-of-seven Western Conference final, hoisted the Clarence Campbell Bowl presented to him by deputy commissioner Bill Daly. Article content NHL players, not unlike most professional athletes, can be the superstitious sort, and one of the most enduring superstitions is that you don't touch the Campbell or the Prince of Wales Trophy, its Eastern Conference equivalent, should your team win and advance to compete for Lord Stanley's trophy. Article content Fearing it will somehow bring bad luck, team captains won't touch it, and the team will only gather around it for an official photo. The fear is that celebrating with the trophy will jinx your chances in the final. Article content It's not clear how far it dates back for either trophy, but it's only grown in prominence as the sport has grown in North America. Article content Speaking to Sportsnet's Gene Principe on the ice as teammates celebrated around him, McDavid said he didn't 'know what was going to happen when we got up there' but decided to 'give it a go this year.' Article content Congratulations to the @EdmontonOilers who qualify for the #StanleyCup final for the 9th time. Last year Connor McDavid didn't touch the Clarence Campbell Bowl, this year he did. #Oilers #LetsGoOilers — Vintage Oilers (@VintageOilers) May 30, 2025 Article content In the post-game press conference, a No. 97 offered a similar and succinct reply. Article content Article content 'Pretty obvious, I think. Don't touch it last year, we don't win. Touch it this year, hopefully we win.' Article content The Panthers, meanwhile, also chose not to touch the Prince of Wales after finishing off the Carolina Hurricanes last week, marking the second straight year they've done so. When the Panthers swept the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2023 East final and touched the Prince of Wales, they went on to lose against the Las Vegas Knights in the final. Article content While it's mostly hit and miss, plenty of teams who've touched their respective trophies have gone on to win the Cup, including some of the games' greats, according to the league. Article content After not doing so before his first Cup final in 2008, Sidney Crosby and his assistant captains did touch the Clarence Campbell in 2009 and went on to win. He would do so again in 2016 and 17 when the Pittsburgh Penguins went on to win back-to-back cups. Article content
