Greg Wyshynski joined The Sheet with Jeff Marek, where they weighed in on several issues around the NHL, including Mitch Marner’s performance during his contract year with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Marner has arguably been the Maple Leafs’ MVP this season with 15 goals and 67 points in 48 games, keeping the Maple Leafs atop the Atlantic Division while the team has weathered several injuries across the board. He’s also in the final year of his existing contract and the Maple Leafs will need to make a decision that will alter the direction of the franchise, one way or another.

Marek and Wyshynski brought up Adam Oates, a Hall of Fame playmaker who produced excellent results alongside Brett Hull, Cam Neely and Peter Bondra throughout the course of his career. Oates went to bat for Marner shortly after the Leafs were ousted in the playoffs last spring, and believed the Maple Leafs ought to provided the 27-year-old with more help.

“I’ve always felt that Marner is the type of player that if the Leafs ever let him walk, or traded him, he’s the type of player you will be constantly be searching for over the next seven years, or eight years, that is without question,” Wyshynski said of Marner.

“The other thing too about this is that normally when you see a season like this, a contract year for Mitch Marner: it’s usually to maximize your earning potential overall. I’m showing the entire league what I’m made of, I got a price tag, someone will meet it, look at the season I’m having. But in Marner’s case, don’t you think it’s more of ‘I’m playing this well not to justify my price tag, but to justify my place with this franchise in case they have second thoughts with me contractually!’ Don’t you think that’s the case?”

It’s an interesting debate. Marner has been valued internally by the Maple Leafs, but there’s an outside perception that he would want to get full value on the open market. Toronto’s star playmaker has repeatedly stated that he wants to remain with the organization, while leaving the negotiations to his agent, and hasn’t spoke about his contract situation since the regular season began, per his request.

Marner has often been blamed for the Maple Leafs’ resounding lack of playoff success during the past decade, and it’s a pivotal year on and off the ice for the homegrown star. He’s on pace for the best point total of his career while providing stellar defensive results, and it’ll be compelling to see if the Maple Leafs can sign him to an extension, or if he tests the open market, where he could become the highest-paid winger in the NHL.