TSN: Darren Dreger on Toronto Maples and pending UFA Mitch Marner and how it could play out.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Host: “Comes to Marner, what’s your best guess on how it’s going to play out between now and his potential unrestricted free agency?”
Dreger: “Well, look, dabbling is the right word. It truly is, because, you know, and I, as much as it pains me as a hockey insider, I do have to grant the management and the agent for locking this thing down.
And, you know, we get into the semantics. Don’t we, we talk about, oh, they’re having ongoing discussions, but they’re not negotiating. Well, if you’re discussing, you’re in effect, negotiating, right? I don’t think that any hard numbers have been presented, but I’m pretty sure Brad Treliving has a good handle on what it’s likely, likely going to take to retain Mitch Marner.
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Is he absolutely sure of that? Has he put those numbers on paper or on the table? No, probably not. But he is in contact with Darren Ferris, the agent, on a regular basis, so I, but the focus again was to make sure they avoided a circus that we were all part of the last time Marner went through his contract negotiation, right? They wanted to make sure that he was able to stay focused on playing and helping the team.
And so I think for the most part, they’ve, they’ve lived true to word on that, and it’s worked because Marner’s played terrific this year, and the Maple Leafs have benefited, based on on his play.
But doesn’t it feel like, you know, you get into 2025 which is not far away, and Treliving is going to have to have a direction here, and there’s going to have to be definition on what that money is going to look like. That doesn’t mean that, you know, Darren Ferris and Mitch Marner, have to get into the heavy lifting of the negotiation.
If in fact, Marner and his camp are willing and want to go to July 1st just to have a look at what the real market is from dollar perspective, they’re entitled to do that. I just, I don’t feel like it’s going to get there.
I believe Marner when he says that he wants to be a Maple Leaf, and that’s the way he wants to play out his career. And probably in some fantasy land, and I’m not being facetious, just the reality of a young GTA player is, you know, he envisions hoisting that cup in a Maple Leaf uniform, maybe one day having his number go up into the rafters, you know, the, the statue out front Scotiabank, like all of the stuff that Toronto kids would dream up.
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Well, you’re not getting that if you’re going to chase top dollar on the open market. So heavy lifting for both sides, but it remains very amicable, and the dialog is very much open.”
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