The Toronto Maple Leafs and Mitch Marner have reportedly not conducted any negotiations up to this point in the season.

TSN’s Chris Johnston made an appearance on TSN’s OverDrive with Bryan Hayes and Jonas Siegel on Monday where he reported that although the two sides have talked all season, there have been no numbers exchanged between Marner’s camp and the Leafs.

“ When the future’s unclear and one party has all the decision-making, which is Marner’s side, then the Leafs have had to at least think about what other things would look like,” he said. “ It’s not because they want that. What Brad Treliving said [on Sunday] totally factually aligns with everything I heard that happened privately:  The Leafs wanna sign this guy. It’s not about them not wanting to pay him or anything like that. They didn’t get to a spot in negotiations they couldn’t get past and then the Leafs got to this point. They didn’t negotiate.

Johnston added that he got the sense that the Leafs had multiple conversations with Marner’s camp about being traded to the Carolina Hurricanes but he decided citing his desire to remain in Toronto. Had he agreed to the move, it would have resulted in them acquiring Mikko Rantanen and getting an extension out of it. Though it would have been at a higher cap hit compared to what the Dallas Stars ultimately got him to agree to, Johnston said he believed the Leafs felt they would be able to sign Rantanen.

This would explain why Marner told reporters on Saturday that he had a feeling something might happen in regards to being asked to waive his no-movement clause. It is also worth mentioning that Treliving told reporters after practice on Sunday that they are behind Marner all the way though their current focus is on the season.

“ I think that they understand where the leverage lies, and frustration would be almost a pointless emotion or thought,” Johnston said about if he feels the Leafs are getting annoyed at the lack of progress. “I think if you’re in the Leafs’ end of it, they have to try to make the best of it. And as I say, they still haven’t given up hope on signing Mitch Marner and I don’t think they should. I still think it’s probably a little bit more likely than not that he signed in Toronto, but it’s certainly not a guarantee at this point in time.”

The Marner saga is a rare case in a contract negotiation where the player has the power as opposed to most cases where the team is in control like with Nick Robertson’s trade request. While the Leafs may want to try to enact some leverage in trying to put pressure on the Marner camp to cave and get something done, the truth is that he holds all the cards.

Johnston suggests that the Marner camp knows that the Leafs’ position on wanting to extend him won’t change between now and June 30th, so they are letting the season play out in full before they can start negotiating.

“If he had decided he was staying, I think the deal would be done. It doesn’t mean he’s leaving, but I think it’s an open ended idea from his side,” he said. “ That’s the only way to view this. If he was 100 percent sure he was saying, I think the contract would be done and they would have at least negotiated, they would have went back and forth.”

It is worth noting that TSN’s Darrern Dreger reported on January 28 that Marner and the Leafs have mutual interest in getting an extension done, adding that the two sides would move quickly to get something done if Marner wished to get the ball moving. Marner said that he is open to having his agent and Treliving negotiate in-season but wanted to keep the focus on hockey.

The fact the two sides have yet to negotiate indicates that Marner’s camp likely wants to see how the whole season goes and then start exchanging numbers. While the Leafs for the most part have been comfortable with this, they also want some certaity going into next season which is why they opted to at the very least consider what a future without him would be.

That doesn’t confirm there is zero chance this extension gets done, it just means that we are still weeks away from any productive talks being done between the two sides. No one knows for sure at the time where this will all end up, but one thing is clear: the noise surrounding the Marner contract saga is not going subsiding anytime soon.