It appears Mitch Marner is preparing for the long haul in his contract dispute with the Toronto Maple Leafs. According to Darren Dreger of TSN, the restricted free agent has already reached out to the Zurich Lions of the Swiss National League about training with the team if a deal isn't reached in time for training camp.
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Meanwhile, Rick Dhaliwal of Sportsnet radio confirms the contact.
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Auston Matthews fans may already be aware that he chose to play with the same team in 2015-2016, the year before he was drafted by the Leafs, rather than continue in American amateur hockey or play major junior hockey in the Canadian Hockey League.
Marner may not be the only restricted free agent looking for another team to play for if his contract dispute runs into the regular season. There is a long list of high profile RFAs yet to be signed around the league and it seems their agents are waiting for Marner to sign in order to set the market price.
Meanwhile, some seem to think this is a regular play in the playbook of Marner's agent, Darren Ferris, who has planted this type of seed before regarding his players involved in similar disputes, as you can see in this tweet by Maple Leafs Hot Stove contributor Kevin Papetti back in June.
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