The Toronto Maple Leafs are reportedly engaged in ongoing extension talks with Mitch Marner and John Tavares, and all parties are not ruling out an in-season signing.

During an appearance on TSN 1050’s First Up with Aaron Korolnek and Carlo Colaiacovo on Tuesday, TSN’s Chris Johnston was asked about the situation between the two Leafs star forwards and their expiring contracts. He reported that while no official offers have been exchanged, the camps for both players haven’t decided to ride this out into the offseason.

“They haven’t made any decisions that this has to wait until the end of the year. My understanding is there’s pretty ongoing dialogue between the agents for those players and the Leafs. It’s not to say they’re exchanging official offers at this point. I don’t know if it’s at that level. But I do think that it’s kind of a process that’s playing out. Look, you get to a certain point, as a player, it might make sense – I’m thinking specifically Marner – if you get close enough to July 1, you might want to take a peek. I think Tavares is a different situation because, you know, it’s very apparent he wants to to stay here in Toronto. It doesn’t mean he’s going to stay for free. But I think he’s at a different stage of his career. It’s going to be a different-looking contract than Mitch Marner’s next deal, no matter where it’s signed. I think that there’s still a world that it can happen during this season, but I don’t have any reason to believe it’s coming today or tomorrow, and we’ll just have to see how it plays out.”

In terms of Tavares, this report remains consistent with what has been shared by other insiders throughout the season so far. Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli noted on December 17th that the two sides have reached common ground that would make the deal possible during the regular season. TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reported on December 18th that part of what is delaying the completion of the signing is due to the two parties waiting to see what the salary cap is going to be for next season. It has been well established that the former captain has little desire to hit the open market so it is simply a matter of time before this extension gets done.

As for Marner, this isn’t the first time it has been shared that his camp is open to getting a deal finished before the regular season concludes. He was interviewed by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman in September where revealed that while he wants to focus on the hockey, he isn’t opposed to allowing GM Brad Treliving and his agent Darren Ferris to talk throughout the campaign.

“I don’t know if I would say that,” he said. “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.”

Like Tavares, Marner would like to remain a Leaf given that it is his hometown team and has enjoyed his time here despite all of the playoff shortcomings. Of course, there is risk involved with retaining him should the team once again fail to make a deep run in the postseason but if both sides wish to continue the relationship there is no reason to believe it can’t occur. Regardless of whether this new deal ends up being with the Leafs or someone else, don’t be surprised to see Marner get paid handsomely.

Deferred salary is on the table

Johnston was then asked about the possibility of Tavares and Marner (or any other Leafs contract) would include deferred salary. He believes that it is more likely that Tavares’ extension will have it because he is at a different phase of his career compared to Marner.

“With Tavares, that approach makes sense. Just because, again, I think he really wants to be here, he’s getting towards the end of his playing career, and I still think this is sort of a niche thing. Basically, I don’t think this works for all the players, but you might have specific financial needs or you might be at a specific part in your career. Jake McCabe did it on his extension and part of the thinking there was that it’s probably his last NHL deal. Not for sure. And why not take a payment as you enter retirement? I think that, depending on the length of Tavares’ deal, especially if it came in Toronto, I think that there’s probably something like that that could make sense for him. What we haven’t seen yet is we haven’t seen a star player do it like [Shohei] Ohtani did in baseball. So when you’re talking about the Marners or Rantanens or when McDavid does his next deal, I’d be surprised if any of those types of players did it in the NHL just because they don’t have to. But I guess we’ll have to wait and see how that all works out.”

Johnston previously reported on November 28th that Tavares would be open to an extension with deferred salary, similar to what they were able to do with McCabe. These types of contracts have started to make their way into the NHL after Ohtani set the precedent with his colossal contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, but having a player of Tavares or Marner’s calibre agree to such a deal would make the practice fully embraced around the league.

It is worth mentioning that the contract the Anaheim Ducks gave to Frank Vatrano on Monday could be a precedent setter for the Leafs regarding Tavares. Rather than the deal having the typical $6 million AAV, the terms of the contract will see $9 million of Vatrano’s contract deferred. The 31-year-old will receive an annual payment of $900,000 over 10 years beginning in 2035, which helps keep the cap hit down in the immediate future.

While there is no indication that Marner’s camp would be willing to do the same, getting him to agree to such an arrangement would certainly do wonders in keeping their cap space freed up enough to get additional deals done such as Matthew Knies. Regardless, it is clear that this avenue is one that the Leafs are open to utilizing and could play a key factor in what the cap hits end up being.

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Deferred salary is on the table

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