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Maple Leafs GM Makes 'Emotional' Admission About Discussion With Mitch Marner
Maple Leafs GM Makes 'Emotional' Admission About Discussion With Mitch Marner

Yahoo

time2 hours ago

  • Business
  • Yahoo

Maple Leafs GM Makes 'Emotional' Admission About Discussion With Mitch Marner

Maple Leafs GM Makes 'Emotional' Admission About Discussion With Mitch Marner originally appeared on Athlon Sports. The Toronto Maple Leafs are once again heading into a summer of difficult decisions, and general manager Brad Treliving took center stage on Thursday to share a few more nuggets about what's next. Advertisement Following a second-round exit at the hands of the Florida Panthers, Toronto's front office faces the prospect of reshaping a Core Four that has failed to deliver deep playoff runs across nearly a decade. While Treliving made his commitment to bring young forward Matthew Knies back clear, and praised the impact of coach Craig Berube, his comments about his two top-tier pending free agents—Mitch Marner and John Tavares—suggest changes might be coming. As things stand, without contract-extension agreements in place, Marner and Tavares are heading into unrestricted free agency on July 1. Treliving declined to confirm whether the Leafs intend to offer a new deal to Marner, who led the team with 102 points in 2024–25. Advertisement 'I think Mitch is a tremendous player. I think he's a star,' Treliving said. 'We're in that process right now.' Treliving explained that discussions with Marner are still in an early phase because of the "emotional" nature of the situation, with Toronto suffering another playoff collapse. 'Mitch and I had a discussion. It's emotional right now,' Treliving said. 'You've got to get composed, you've got to think clearly and then start going through that process.' Toronto Maple Leafs forward Mitchell Marner (16)John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images Treliving, however, acknowledged that the decision will not be one-sided, hinting at a need for both sides to make some concessions to reach an agreement. Advertisement 'Mitch has a say in this as well,' Treliving said. 'This isn't the world according to Brad.' At his own end-of-season availability, Marner avoided making any commitment about his potential return to Toronto. 'Always loved my time here. I loved being here,' Marner said. 'I haven't processed anything yet. It's still so fresh.' Related: Maple Leafs' Brad Treliving Reveals His Matthew Knies Desire Without Hesitation Related: NHL Trade Idea Sends Penguins' Erik Karlsson to Maple Leafs in One-for-One Deal This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on May 30, 2025, where it first appeared.

The Maple Leafs have given themselves no choice but to try and re-sign Mitch Marner
The Maple Leafs have given themselves no choice but to try and re-sign Mitch Marner

Toronto Star

time3 hours ago

  • Sport
  • Toronto Star

The Maple Leafs have given themselves no choice but to try and re-sign Mitch Marner

So it's the Vegas approach. Forget about the future. Today is all that matters. Not what comes next year, or the year after. The Vegas Golden Knights have been playing this hand since their inception, and it has delivered a Stanley Cup championship and some very good teams. First-round picks and prospects? Let the other 31 teams worry about those. Whether this catches up with the Knights one day, well, all we know is that it hasn't yet. They're a contender every year. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW The Maple Leafs are now heading down this path. The patient building days are over. The architect of all that has been dismissed. The Leafs have no first-round picks for the next three years, having traded them away for the likes of Jake McCabe, Brandon Carlo and Scott Laughton — none of them NHL stars. In terms of elite prospects, they have London forward Easton Cowan and Oshawa defenceman Ben Danford, both of whom have a good shot at one day landing regular NHL work, maybe more. But they're not ready yet, and good teams give young players time to mature. Other than Matthew Knies, none of the key Leafs are youngsters. This is no longer an up-and-coming team, but rather a team built around 27-year-old Auston Matthews and 29-year-old William Nylander. The other key components are 35-year-old Chris Tanev, 31-year-old Anthony Stolarz and defenceman Morgan Rielly, also 31. The former captain, 34-year-old John Tavares, is unsigned. Leafs Opinion Damien Cox: Why Brad Treliving's track record should worry Maple Leafs fans The only thing the Leafs should be considering is: How do we get better? But it doesn't feel like that's what they're doing. Leafs Opinion Damien Cox: Why Brad Treliving's track record should worry Maple Leafs fans The only thing the Leafs should be considering is: How do we get better? But it doesn't feel like that's what they're doing. Which brings us to 28-year-old Mitch Marner. While many are again disappointed with his playoff production, it seems pretty clear he is irreplaceable. If he walks, the Leafs can spend money on other players, but immense offensive and special teams capability will be lost. In another situation, with good prospects or farmhands on the way and first-round picks available in coming years, you could make a logical argument for not re-signing Marner. If Nick Robertson hadn't been a scratch for most of the playoffs, maybe he could be asked to partly fill the void. But given the current situation — a team that can't score in the post-season when it matters and didn't defend well against the Florida Panthers in Games 5 and 7 of their second-round playoff loss — that argument doesn't exist. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW The Leafs pretty well have to sign Marner now. Or try to in hopes of at least staying at the same competitive level. You can't say the Leafs didn't see this coming. By dealing away first-round picks (as well as forward prospect Fraser Minten) for Carlo and Laughton, general manager Brad Treliving made the situation more acute while also not getting a Marner contract done. For that wizardry, Treliving effectively got a promotion. He has more power with Brendan Shanahan gone, a decision that really hasn't been explained logically. This is a bed that Treliving has made. Marner had two seasons left on his contract when Treliving became GM, so perhaps it's fair he gets to deal with the ramifications. How he intends to do that is unknown. He talked a lot during his media availability on Thursday, but basically said nothing of substance. He could have covered it all in a two-paragraph media release. Leafs Opinion Nick Kypreos: The Leafs have undervalued Mitch Marner for years. They'll pay the price when he leaves It often seemed like Mike Babcock was trying to sabotage his development. And the team lowballed him at contract time. Still, he was the fastest Leafs Opinion Nick Kypreos: The Leafs have undervalued Mitch Marner for years. They'll pay the price when he leaves It often seemed like Mike Babcock was trying to sabotage his development. And the team lowballed him at contract time. Still, he was the fastest The stuf f about needing new DNA seemed strange given that Treliving has been here for two years and is very much responsible for the DNA of Toronto's NHL team. Criticizing their makeup was at least partly an indictment of his own work. How exactly he sees Marner is unclear. It all seems very much like the way the late Johnny Gaudreau left Calgary while Treliving was the Flames' GM. The right things didn't get said at the right times. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW But just as it's hard to figure out how simply deleting Shanahan without replacing him makes the team better, it is similarly impossible to fathom, given all the elements, how the Leafs intend to make themselves better if Marner walks out the door as an unrestricted free agent. If Marner re-signs, the Leafs will retain most of the key components of the team that finished first in the Atlantic this season. If Toronto is going to go full Vegas, more futures can be traded away to take a run at the Cup next season, and maybe the season after. Let him walk, however, and they almost certainly take a step back even with a successful free-agent season. Marner would have to be replaced as Matthews' winger, the power-play quarterback and a member of the No. 1 penalty-killing unit. He was also Connor McDavid's linemate at the 4 Nations Face-Off and set up McDavid for the tournament-winning goal. There's no player out there who can do all that for the Leafs and is available. There is much less of a choice here with respect to Marner than it once seemed. The Leafs let it get this far, dealing with Marner differently than Matthews or Nylander, and now they may end up bidding maximum dollars to even be in the game to retain his services.

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