It's safe to say that the Toronto Maple Leafs have had a very busy off-season. With Nazem Kadri, Nikita Zaitsev, Connor Brown, Patrick Marleau, Calle Rosen, Garret Sparks, Tyler Ennis, Ron Hainsey, Igor Ozhiganov and Jake Gardiner out and Cody Ceci, Tyson Barrie, Jordan Schmaltz, Alexander Kerfoot, Jason Spezza, Nick Shore, Ilya Mikheyev, Kenny Agostino, Garrett Wilson and Pontus Aberg in, the 2019-2020 Maple Leafs will have an entirely new look this season.
With that out of the way, let's move over to Marner watch! TSN's Pierre LeBrun has reported that although teams have inquired about Mitch Marner's availability trade-wise, Kyle Dubas is holding firm that the Leafs have not even considered moving the 22 year-old phenom. "That's not a real avenue that we've even remotely explored. It's our full intention that Mitch Marner will be a Toronto Maple Leaf for a very long time and that's everything we're working towards," LeBrun quotes Dubas as saying.
-
Kyle Dubas had this to say during an interview with TSN's Bob McKenzie, addressing when we might see a resolution; "I would expect - in looking at it and looking at the history of these things - that some of it will start to shake loose, and we're certainly hopeful and we'll continue to work towards having (Marner) be one of those players that signs in the coming week." He continued; "I think the realism of the situation begins to near closer and closer, which is that if there is no contract, most players don't attend training camp. I think when missing time begins to become real, I think it changes the dynamics of the discussion quite a bit."
Previous reports have suggested that Marner could potentially be looking for a two or three-year bridge deal which would allow him the opportunity to sign another big-money contract while still in his prime. Interestingly enough, Jake Gardiner has still not signed with another NHL team, leading some to believe that he is holding on to hope that Marner does indeed sign a bridge deal that would leave enough cap space to allow the Leafs to re-sign him. That may be reaching a bit, but stranger things have happened.
In other news in Leafs Nation, Tyson Barrie has one year remaining on his current contract and many are suspecting that the Leafs will take a run at re-signing him to a long-term extension. However, the former Av confirmed on Tuesday that no contract talks have taken place with the Leafs. According to Sportsnet's Luke Fox, both sides intend to see if the pieces fit first. It is expected that Barrie will pair up with Jake Muzzin to start the season. If this is accurate, it appears as though the top pairing will be Morgan Rielly and Cody Ceci.
With Rielly and Barrie on separate pairings, it appears as though it's Head Coach Mike Babcock preference to spread out his back-end offense to ensure that there is a scoring threat from the blue line on the ice as often as possible this season. No word yet as to whether or not the buds will run with Rielly and Barrie on the top PP unit together.
-
