Mitch Marner is well within his rights to test free agency this summer. He is exercising his labour rights by declining to speak about his impending contract status, deferring to his agent, Darren Ferris. The 27-year-old has been in tremendous form for the Toronto Maple Leafs and is pacing towards the first 100-point campaign of his career. It would be unfair to take an anti-labour stance regarding Marner, but there are uncomfortable realities settling in, as it regards to the Toronto Maple Leafs’ star winger after the trade deadline.

Marner was reportedly asked to waive his no-trade clause — a well-negotiated right that he earned from Kyle Dubas’ regime — in order for the Maple Leafs to facilitate a trade with the Carolina Hurricanes for Mikko Rantanen. He declined, citing his stance that he wants to remain with the Maple Leafs. Marner has stated on multiple occasions that he wants to stay with the team, but general manager Brad Treliving put him to the test, and a few previously unthinkable positions are beginning to settle in.

Toronto’s star winger said he had a feeling that he may be asked to move his no-movement clause, following Saturday’s loss to the Colorado Avalanche, where he scored two goals in a charged offensive performance, but declined to elaborate further, beyond the idea that he wants to play hockey for the Maple Leafs. That’s more than fair. The optics on the other hand, aren’t great, and it feels like a self-imposed misstep from a player that is intimately familiar with the machinations of the market. Marner is playing for his boyhood club and was a borderline prodigy in the Greater Toronto Hockey League, before starring for the OHL’s London Knights, he knows how the market works.

If Marner were to re-sign with the Maple Leafs, even at a top-of-the-market deal that his critics would find unreasonable, he’s getting a statue on Legends Row. Marner is by some definition, one of the best players in the history of this 107-year-old franchise, without the team accomplishments to cement this position. This is the ultimate bet on himself. If Marner puts together an excellent playoff run, all the toxicity of the discourse surrounding him would be vaporized at the parade down Bay Street, but a series of self-inflicted errors have now polarized the stakes for him. Marner needs to go on a deep playoff run, and now that it’s been reported that he refused to waive his no-trade clause for a superstar like Rantanen, some of his critics won’t stop unless he wins a Stanley Cup or he re-signs.

The post-deadline reality underscores the one untenable outcome: if Marner leaves the Maple Leafs, without any assets in return, it would be comparable, on a lesser scale perhaps, to The Decision. Marner is not LeBron James to be clear, neither in stature, and even the pressure-cooker environment of the minor hockey circuit in Toronto pales in comparison to James becoming the first transcendent prodigy of the internet era, but the vitriol may actually be warranted. Once again, Marner would be well within his rights to test free agency and become the highest-paid winger in the NHL. It would be irresponsible to dictate otherwise, there’s nothing inherently wrong with wanting to get the most of your labour, but there’s no way Marner would be able to stop fans, and some sectors of the media, from turning into him one of the great villains in Toronto’s sports history. It’s an uncomfortable reality.

The timing of the reporting is unfortunate from Marner’s perspective, and the Maple Leafs’ as well, in a sense. This is a team that is trying to compete for a Stanley Cup and Treliving correctly understood the urgency of the team’s timeline, adding Scott Laughton and Brandon Carlo to shore up a roster that boasts the requisite goaltending and star power to win it all. Marner is at the forefront of this all, as he’s the team’s leading scorer, best penalty-killer, and he’s been an integral part of the past nine years of Maple Leafs hockey.

Watching Marner for the past decade as a Maple Leafs star, it’s clear that he wants to win here, but this may be naivety and wish fulfilment blended into a stance that unnecessarily protects the star winger from some warranted criticism. If Marner walks for nothing, taking this stance looks foolish, especially when he’s said on multiple occasions that he wants to remain with the Maple Leafs.

All of this becomes moot if Marner re-signs with the Maple Leafs, or leads the team to a Stanley Cup, which is much easier said than done, especially when the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning were also clear winners at the deadline. Marner has every right to sign with another team, but after it’s now on record that he refused to move his no-move clause in a trade for Rantanen, it potentially changes the discourse, he won’t be able to control the narratives spewn at him this summer. These are the uncomfortable realities of the post-deadline Mitch Marner discourse.