The Toronto Maple Leafs and forward Mitch Marner reportedly have a mutual interest in a contract extension with the only obstacle being the business side of things.
TSN&#8217;s Darren Dreger appeared on <a href="https://www.tsn.ca/radio/toronto-1050/dreger-on-rantanen-s-shocking-trade-differences-between-marner-and-rantanen-s-situations-and-more-1.2242481" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TSN 1050’s First Up with Aaron Korolnek and Carlo Colaiacovo on Monday</a>, providing an update on the negotiations following the Mikko Rantanen blockbuster. Dreger was asked if<a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/how-mikko-rantanen-trade-whats-next-mitch-marner" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> the Rantanen situation had any parallels to Marner&#8217;s</a> ongoing negotiations and whether the trade raised a few eyebrows on the Leafs&#8217; side.
Dreger noted that the two have their differences while noting that should Marner wish to get the ball rolling, the two sides would move quickly to get something done.
<blockquote>Mitch Marner has full protection, he would have to waive. And I would submit why would he? Where are his chances better potentially winning a Stanley Cup?  We don&#8217;t know that yet, do we? I mean, you can look at recent history and say, &#8216;Okay, well Florida. What about Vegas?&#8217; Those teams may or may be a player of significance leading up to the trade deadline. So I don&#8217;t see it, I really don&#8217;t.
Here&#8217;s the number one reason why I don&#8217;t see it: I think that Toronto very much wants to sign Marner and by all indications, he wants to stay and be a lifelong Toronto Maple Leaf.  It&#8217;s just the business side is what complicates it most. But I can assure you one thing: If Mitch Marner decided, today being Monday, that he wanted to schedule a meeting with Brad Treliving and get the ball rolling, they get the ball rolling immediately to sign him.
So the reason it raises interest &#8211; and I&#8217;m not talking from Leafs management, I&#8217;m talking across the hockey world &#8211; is because of the quality of the player. If Elias Pettersson  had been traded to Carolina, we&#8217;re not having the conversation we&#8217;re having right now. We&#8217;re not.  It&#8217;s because it&#8217;s Mikko Rantanen, a pending unrestricted free agent. There are some similarities, but there&#8217;s some pretty significant differences here too.</blockquote>
As has been the case all season, Dreger&#8217;s latest report remains consistent with what has been shared about the state of the Marner negotiations. <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/report-maple-leafs-ongoing-extension-talks-marner-tavares" target="_blank" rel="noopener">On January 7</a>, TSN&#8217;s Chris Johnston shared that Marner&#8217;s camp hasn&#8217;t decided that the extension talks need to wait until the offseason.  The player himself has made it clear he loves being a Leaf and wishes to stay, but will leave the negotiations to Treliving and his agent Darren Ferris.
“I don’t know if I would say that,” <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/toronto-maple-leafs-news-mitch-marner-open-contract-negotiations-season" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Marner said to Sportsnet&#8217;s Elliotte Friedman in an interview on September 18</a>. &#8220;But I think for my sake, unless it gets really important or (I’m) really needed, I’m going to let my agent and Brad do all the talking and figure stuff out. I’m just going to focus on playing hockey and trying to help this team win games.”
Based on the information that has been given throughout this process, you get the sense that both sides are willing to let this play out over the season and a decision will be reached at a later date. It is not unprecedented for a notable player on the roster to have the negotiations drag out this long as Boston Bruins forward David Pastrnak didn&#8217;t get his extension done until the day before the 2023 trade deadline.  Florida Panthers forward Sam Reinhart waited until days before free agency to ink a deal with the reigning Stanley Cup winners.
Marner&#8217;s case is unique in the sense that there is a lot of baggage that has preceded where things stand now and there is certainly an argument to be made that the best course of action is to wait until after the playoffs to decide whether or not to continue the relationship. With that being said if the two sides feel they have a good deal in place and are committed to getting an extension done, then there is no reason to wait.
It is worth noting that <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/seravalli-hurricanes-inquired-leafs-marner-before-rantanen-trade" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Daily Faceoff&#8217;s Frank Seravalli reported on Monday</a> that the Carolina Hurricanes inquired with the Leafs about Marner before deciding to focus their efforts on Rantanen.
&#8220;I believe that the Carolina Hurricanes at least inquired about Mitch Marner as they were going through this process with Mikko Rantanen,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I don’t know how far they got, I don’t know if it’s a possibility that maybe they were not a team that Marner would go to.”
In any case, Dreger&#8217;s report reaffirms that the Leafs and Marner&#8217;s camp have not waivered their desire to get an extension done. This is simply a case of the business side getting in the way and any breakthroughs won&#8217;t be had for the foreseeable future.

The Toronto Maple Leafs and forward Mitch Marner reportedly have a mutual interest in a contract extension with the only obstacle being the business side of things.

TSN's Darren Dreger appeared on <a href="https://www.tsn.ca/radio/toronto-1050/dreger-on-rantanen-s-shocking-trade-differences-between-marner-and-rantanen-s-situations-and-more-1.2242481" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TSN 1050’s First Up with Aaron Korolnek and Carlo Colaiacovo on Monday</a>, providing an update on the negotiations following the Mikko Rantanen blockbuster. Dreger was asked if<a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/how-mikko-rantanen-trade-whats-next-mitch-marner" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> the Rantanen situation had any parallels to Marner's</a> ongoing negotiations and whether the trade raised a few eyebrows on the Leafs' side.

Dreger noted that the two have their differences while noting that should Marner wish to get the ball rolling, the two sides would move quickly to get something done.
<blockquote>Mitch Marner has full protection, he would have to waive. And I would submit why would he? Where are his chances better potentially winning a Stanley Cup?  We don't know that yet, do we? I mean, you can look at recent history and say, 'Okay, well Florida. What about Vegas?' Those teams may or may be a player of significance leading up to the trade deadline. So I don't see it, I really don't.

Here's the number one reason why I don't see it: I think that Toronto very much wants to sign Marner and by all indications, he wants to stay and be a lifelong Toronto Maple Leaf.  It's just the business side is what complicates it most. But I can assure you one thing: If Mitch Marner decided, today being Monday, that he wanted to schedule a meeting with Brad Treliving and get the ball rolling, they get the ball rolling immediately to sign him.

So the reason it raises interest - and I'm not talking from Leafs management, I'm talking across the hockey world - is because of the quality of the player. If Elias Pettersson  had been traded to Carolina, we're not having the conversation we're having right now. We're not.  It's because it's Mikko Rantanen, a pending unrestricted free agent. There are some similarities, but there's some pretty significant differences here too.</blockquote>
As has been the case all season, Dreger's latest report remains consistent with what has been shared about the state of the Marner negotiations. <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/report-maple-leafs-ongoing-extension-talks-marner-tavares" target="_blank" rel="noopener">On January 7</a>, TSN's Chris Johnston shared that Marner's camp hasn't decided that the extension talks need to wait until the offseason.  The player himself has made it clear he loves being a Leaf and wishes to stay, but will leave the negotiations to Treliving and his agent Darren Ferris.

“I don’t know if I would say that,” <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/toronto-maple-leafs-news-mitch-marner-open-contract-negotiations-season" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Marner said to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman in an interview on September 18</a>. "But I think for my sake, unless it gets really important or (I’m) really needed, I’m going to let my agent and Brad do all the talking and figure stuff out. I’m just going to focus on playing hockey and trying to help this team win games.”

Based on the information that has been given throughout this process, you get the sense that both sides are willing to let this play out over the season and a decision will be reached at a later date. It is not unprecedented for a notable player on the roster to have the negotiations drag out this long as Boston Bruins forward David Pastrnak didn't get his extension done until the day before the 2023 trade deadline.  Florida Panthers forward Sam Reinhart waited until days before free agency to ink a deal with the reigning Stanley Cup winners.

Marner's case is unique in the sense that there is a lot of baggage that has preceded where things stand now and there is certainly an argument to be made that the best course of action is to wait until after the playoffs to decide whether or not to continue the relationship. With that being said if the two sides feel they have a good deal in place and are committed to getting an extension done, then there is no reason to wait.

It is worth noting that <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/seravalli-hurricanes-inquired-leafs-marner-before-rantanen-trade" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Daily Faceoff's Frank Seravalli reported on Monday</a> that the Carolina Hurricanes inquired with the Leafs about Marner before deciding to focus their efforts on Rantanen.

"I believe that the Carolina Hurricanes at least inquired about Mitch Marner as they were going through this process with Mikko Rantanen," he said. "I don’t know how far they got, I don’t know if it’s a possibility that maybe they were not a team that Marner would go to.”

In any case, Dreger's report reaffirms that the Leafs and Marner's camp have not waivered their desire to get an extension done. This is simply a case of the business side getting in the way and any breakthroughs won't be had for the foreseeable future.

Report: Leafs, Mitch Marner have mutual interest in contract extension

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