Like it or not, Mitch Marner is going to be the centre of a good chunk of Leafs news this season. Just like William Nylander&#8217;s contract negotiations seeped their way into the media circuit until he inked an eight-year extension with the team in January, it&#8217;s Marner&#8217;s turn for a new contract and as such there will be both updates and non-updates pretty frequently.
Marner recently sat down with Sportsnet&#8217;s Elliotte Friedman for an interview about his state of mind going into negotiations, his desire to remain with the Maple Leafs, and what he would say to the fanbase if he had to choose one thing. So not to bury the lede, here&#8217;s what that statement was.
&#8220;Just, thank you. I mean, I think at one point in mind people probably looked at taking me at that pick being a little bit of a reach just with size and everything like that, and now looking back at it, it&#8217;s so funny, my wife and I always talk about how crazy it is that we&#8217;re going into our ninth year in Toronto,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Every year brings a new challenge and a new blessing, we&#8217;re fortunate for it all. The love you get outside of the hockey rink and around the community is one of a kind, and I get to see it firsthand at my charity events throughout the summer and even just walking around the city. So, I&#8217;m very grateful and very fortunate to be a Maple Leaf.&#8221;
Although he made a point in his opening press conference to note that he wouldn&#8217;t be discussing his contract situation with the media, he did reiterate to Friedman that he would be open to in-season negotiations.
&#8220;I don&#8217;t know if I&#8217;d say that,&#8221; he said when asked if he felt strongly about leaving negotiations to the offseason. &#8220;But, I think, for my sake, unless it gets really important or they really need me in there, I&#8217;m going to let my agent Darren Ferris and Brad do all the talking and figure some stuff out, and I&#8217;m just going to focus on playing hockey and help this team try to win games.&#8221;
Maple Leafs defenceman Jake McCabe also made a cameo in the interview and had some shining things to say about Marner when asked by Friedman to tell him one thing about his teammate that people don&#8217;t know.
&#8220;People probably already know this, but it&#8217;s worth noting, it&#8217;s how great of a teammate Mitch [Marner] is and how much he cares about each individual guy. He frankly is the leader in the room of collectively getting everyone together consistently, and Mitch does a better job of anybody that I&#8217;ve played with of bringing everyone together, organizing things, making sure we&#8217;re all hanging out outside of the rink.&#8221;
The interview also included a story about Marner organizing a group outing to a particularly exciting Los Angeles Chargers/Las Vegas Raiders game a couple of years ago. He was forced to miss out on the outing himself after being diagnosed with COVID-19, but his teammates facetimed him and talked about how it was the most exciting sports game they&#8217;d ever seen.
Marner tallied one assist in the Leafs&#8217; 6-5 overtime loss to the Ottawa Senators in <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/5-takeaways-preseason-maple-leafs-senators-max-pacioretty-pulling-away-competition">their preseason opener</a> and will be looking to capture his first ever 100-point season despite being on pace for it several times in the past. You can watch Marner&#8217;s full interview <a href="https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/video/mitch-marner-sends-a-message-to-the-maple-leafs-nation/">here.</a>
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Like it or not, Mitch Marner is going to be the centre of a good chunk of Leafs news this season. Just like William Nylander's contract negotiations seeped their way into the media circuit until he inked an eight-year extension with the team in January, it's Marner's turn for a new contract and as such there will be both updates and non-updates pretty frequently.

Marner recently sat down with Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman for an interview about his state of mind going into negotiations, his desire to remain with the Maple Leafs, and what he would say to the fanbase if he had to choose one thing. So not to bury the lede, here's what that statement was.

"Just, thank you. I mean, I think at one point in mind people probably looked at taking me at that pick being a little bit of a reach just with size and everything like that, and now looking back at it, it's so funny, my wife and I always talk about how crazy it is that we're going into our ninth year in Toronto," he said. "Every year brings a new challenge and a new blessing, we're fortunate for it all. The love you get outside of the hockey rink and around the community is one of a kind, and I get to see it firsthand at my charity events throughout the summer and even just walking around the city. So, I'm very grateful and very fortunate to be a Maple Leaf."

Although he made a point in his opening press conference to note that he wouldn't be discussing his contract situation with the media, he did reiterate to Friedman that he would be open to in-season negotiations.

"I don't know if I'd say that," he said when asked if he felt strongly about leaving negotiations to the offseason. "But, I think, for my sake, unless it gets really important or they really need me in there, I'm going to let my agent Darren Ferris and Brad do all the talking and figure some stuff out, and I'm just going to focus on playing hockey and help this team try to win games."

Maple Leafs defenceman Jake McCabe also made a cameo in the interview and had some shining things to say about Marner when asked by Friedman to tell him one thing about his teammate that people don't know.

"People probably already know this, but it's worth noting, it's how great of a teammate Mitch [Marner] is and how much he cares about each individual guy. He frankly is the leader in the room of collectively getting everyone together consistently, and Mitch does a better job of anybody that I've played with of bringing everyone together, organizing things, making sure we're all hanging out outside of the rink."

The interview also included a story about Marner organizing a group outing to a particularly exciting Los Angeles Chargers/Las Vegas Raiders game a couple of years ago. He was forced to miss out on the outing himself after being diagnosed with COVID-19, but his teammates facetimed him and talked about how it was the most exciting sports game they'd ever seen.

Marner tallied one assist in the Leafs' 6-5 overtime loss to the Ottawa Senators in <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/5-takeaways-preseason-maple-leafs-senators-max-pacioretty-pulling-away-competition">their preseason opener</a> and will be looking to capture his first ever 100-point season despite being on pace for it several times in the past. You can watch Marner's full interview <a href="https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/video/mitch-marner-sends-a-message-to-the-maple-leafs-nation/">here.</a>

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Mitch Marner thanks Leafs fans for belief, passion in new interview with Sportsnet

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