TSN: Darren Dreger talks to Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving and asks him about pending UFA forward Mitch Marner.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Dreger: “As you know, this is a very passionate market, right? I mean, I’m intrigued at times by some of the trade speculation around certain players. And you know, Mitch Marner’s of Toronto Maple Leaf certainly has been in the crosshairs of that over the last couple of years.
It wouldn’t make sense to trade him in-season, right? But what does he need to show? What does the team need to show? What does the core need to show? Or maybe the best way to answer this is, why is a major contract negotiation like that for a player of that significance so difficult?”
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Treliving: “Well, any contract, any and every contract is, has, has its own life, right, regardless of the amount of money. You know, it took us a while to get Nick Robertson signed this summer.
Listen, Mitch Marner is a star in this league. And to your question, what does he have to do? He just has to be himself. I’ve, I’m, you know, I’ve been here a year. I think in every market, there’s players that maybe get more scrutinized than others. Mitch does here.
He’s a terrific player, like he’s a star in the league. And our failings or us falling short last year, I can’t speak to the previous years I wasn’t here, but I can speak to last year. That doesn’t lie just solely on Mitch his shoulders. You know, Mitch had come through a high ankle sprain at the end of the year. Again, he’d be the first to, he’s not using that as an excuse, but we need Mitch just to be Mitch. He doesn’t have to do anything more than that. This guy’s a terrific player.
There’s very few players in the league that can produce the offense that he does. Kill penalties. Be in the Selke Trophy conversation. I just. I’m a huge fan. And we’ll handle the business side quietly and away from, away from the spotlight, and hopefully when we get something to report, we’ll report it.
But I know Mitch is focused, and our focus right now is just to get the year started. Get off to a good start and be the player that I know he can be. And, and we rely heavily on him. Any team would. He’s, he’s, he’s just a like I said, he’s a star in the league, and he’s had a great summer, he’s refreshed, and I’m looking forward to seeing him and the rest of the group come Wednesday.”
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Dreger: “So just leave it ongoing discussions. Just leave it there.”
Treliving: “We’ll just leave it at that.”