If you pay enough attention to a lot of contract negotiations, you can see patterns emerge pretty quickly with how agents go about their business, particularly in negotiating through the media. To this point in the summer we&#8217;ve already been given a masterclass from Mitch Marner&#8217;s &#8220;camp&#8221; in this regard, with agent Darren Ferris going to some lengths to ensure his client&#8217;s contract ask is always in the forefront of Toronto news.
For a lot of fans (and I&#8217;m sure the team itself) this part of the playbook probably got tiring quickly, but it is part of what agents do. And given Ferris&#8217;s previous negotiations for clients Andreas Athanasiou, Josh Anderson and Sam Bennett, we were wondering when the whole &#8220;he&#8217;s going to go play overseas if he doesn&#8217;t get paid&#8221; card would be played.
Here are those receipts:
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Andreas Athanasiou in ongoing discussions with KHL teams. Unless something shifts in Detroit, indications are Athanasiou will jump to KHL.
&mdash; Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) <a href="https://twitter.com/DarrenDreger/status/905056546807312386?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 5, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Still a sizable gap in contract talks between the Flames and Sam Bennett. Possibility Bennett heads overseas until a deal in Calgary is done
&mdash; Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) <a href="https://twitter.com/DarrenDreger/status/905059673614815233?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 5, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<img decoding="async" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D93UBl_XsAAx67r?format=png&amp;name=small" alt="Image" />
Well, apparently for Marner that day is today, with &#8220;sources&#8221; telling Sportsnet&#8217;s Rick Dhaliwal that his representatives have asked about suiting up for the Zurich Lions of the Swiss League this season if he can&#8217;t come to an agreement with the Leafs.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
24 days to training camp and still no Brock Boeser deal. Some RFA ’ s might be looking for a place to play if no deal, European source tells me Mitch Marner camp has already contacted the Zurich Lions of the Swiss League.
&mdash; Rick Dhaliwal (@DhaliwalSports) <a href="https://twitter.com/DhaliwalSports/status/1163859893129863168?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 20, 2019</a></blockquote>
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I really can&#8217;t stress enough how false this is, but it&#8217;s worth noting here anyway just to point out how we could always see a &#8220;report&#8221; like this coming from a mile away given who&#8217;s involved. The only surprising part is that it seems to be about two weeks early and not through the usual channel. Marner has not talked with the Lions in any meaningful way, they&#8217;re just the team his agent picked to put in the news.
UPDATE:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
Marner could pay the insurance premium and go to Leafs camp without a contract. What a circus that would be. Trade interest will grow as well as the days go by. <a href="https://t.co/5IH1f1TELk">https://t.co/5IH1f1TELk</a>
&mdash; Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) <a href="https://twitter.com/DarrenDreger/status/1163876394813853696?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 20, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Essentially straight from Ferris himself. Incredible.

If you pay enough attention to a lot of contract negotiations, you can see patterns emerge pretty quickly with how agents go about their business, particularly in negotiating through the media. To this point in the summer we've already been given a masterclass from Mitch Marner's "camp" in this regard, with agent Darren Ferris going to some lengths to ensure his client's contract ask is always in the forefront of Toronto news.

For a lot of fans (and I'm sure the team itself) this part of the playbook probably got tiring quickly, but it is part of what agents do. And given Ferris's previous negotiations for clients Andreas Athanasiou, Josh Anderson and Sam Bennett, we were wondering when the whole "he's going to go play overseas if he doesn't get paid" card would be played.

Here are those receipts:

https://twitter.com/DarrenDreger/status/905056546807312386

https://twitter.com/DarrenDreger/status/905059673614815233

<img src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D93UBl_XsAAx67r?format=png&amp;name=small" alt="Image" />

Well, apparently for Marner that day is today, with "sources" telling Sportsnet's Rick Dhaliwal that his representatives have asked about suiting up for the Zurich Lions of the Swiss League this season if he can't come to an agreement with the Leafs.

https://twitter.com/DhaliwalSports/status/1163859893129863168

I really can't stress enough how false this is, but it's worth noting here anyway just to point out how we could always see a "report" like this coming from a mile away given who's involved. The only surprising part is that it seems to be about two weeks early and not through the usual channel. Marner has not talked with the Lions in any meaningful way, they're just the team his agent picked to put in the news.

UPDATE:

https://twitter.com/DarrenDreger/status/1163876394813853696

Essentially straight from Ferris himself. Incredible.

Marner is reportedly in talks to play for the Zurich Lions of the Swiss League, so let’s laugh about it

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