Toronto Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner is reportedly willing to go to the open market on July 1st, according to TSN and The Athletic’s Chris Johnston.

GM Brad Treliving had a busy trade deadline day that saw him acquire Scott Laughton and Brandon Carlo to help address their needs down the middle and on the backend, respectively. These were certainly big moves but it is possible the Leafs could have made an even bigger splash as reports suggested that they were making a serious push to get Mikko Rantanen.

Rantanen was ultimately traded to the Dallas Stars which included him signing an eight-year contract, which naturally led to people turning their focus to Marner and how this could impact his decision on where he will end up. Johnston appeared on TSN’s OverDrive on Friday where the connection between the Rantanen trade and Marner’s expiring contract was discussed.

“It really depends if that conversation is happening on June 1st when it’s just Toronto that can deal with them, or if it’s happening on July 1st when you’ve got the entire market,” he said. “My impression right now is that Mitch Marner is more than willing to go to market.”

This is not the first time the two situations were compared to as these talks were naturally brought up after the first Rantanen trade took place in late January. The obvious difference is that Marner’s playoff numbers are significantly worse than Rantanen’s, who is also a Stanley Cup champion and one of the top playoff performers of this era.

Now that Rantanen has been signed to a contract that has an AAV of $12 million, that has likely set the bar from Marner’s camp on what his next contract should be.

“I think the Rantanen number is less relevant if it’s truly the whole field,” Johnston said. “Now, if you’re the Toronto Maple Leafs and you’re having that conversation, of course. Mikko Rantanen’s got better career numbers than Mitch Marner. He’s a more accomplished player just by the pure numbers so that would be a fair comparable to bring up. But if Mitch is willing to use his leverage, I’m not saying any of this is negative, I just think it’s a fact of where Mitch is at in his career that he’s able to do that.”

It is worth mentioning 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. He himself said that he is open to having his agent and Treliving negotiate in-season, which would inidicate that his preference is to remain a Leaf beyond this season.

This latest report from Johnston is not a guarantee that Marner is leaving at year’s end, it is simply a case of his camp being prepared to test the waters if he does not get his preference of remaining with the Leafs satisfied. He is merely using the leverage he has to maximize his earnings, and it is well within his right to do so given the position he could find himself in if he were to hit the open market on July 1st.

“ In a perfect world, Mitch Marner probably earns a little less than Rantanen. But it’s not perfect and this is a supply and demand business,” Johnston said. “ He was already in a great spot, but he’s even in a better spot now because there is only one Mitch Marner out there.  I think if it was both Rantanen and Marner hitting the market, some of the teams will be bidding on the same guys. Mitch is right now 100 percent the top free agent in the entire NHL.  Even if it doesn’t go well in the next few weeks or month or two here, I think he’s in a huge position to swing big.”

The fact that no extension got done before the deadline suggests that the two sides are willing to ride this out into the offseason where they can reassess after the playoffs wrap up. Perhaps that could be for the best given how much is at stake for the Leafs to make a deep run in the spring and how it will impact their future plans.

Regardless of what transpires in the coming weeks, it is clear that the Leafs will need to work hard to get Marner signed because he is otherwise prepared to pack his bags and head elsewhere.