The Toronto Maple Leafs are preparing to make Mitch Marner a contract offer to keep him a member of the team, NHL insider Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reported.
Marner has been the subject of trade rumors since the season ended as he has one year left on his six-year $65.4 million deal he signed in 2019. Although Marner has a full no-movement clause, meaning he can block any trade, but many reports have said he would be willing to be traded to a couple of teams.
However, on June 28 while speaking on his 32 Thoughts podcast, Friedman revealed that Toronto is looking to extend Marner.
“I’m going to stay away from the hot scalding pot that is Mitch Marner, aside to say that I do think they’re preparing to make him an offer, we’ll see,” Friedman said.
It is interesting that Friedman believes the Maple Leafs are preparing an offer for Marner as all the speculation was that Toronto was going to trade the skilled winger.
Last year with the Maple Leafs, Marner recorded 26 goals and 59 assists for 85 points in 69 regular season games. He added 1 goal and 2 assists in 7 playoff games for Toronto. In his career, he has 194 goals and 445 assists for 639 points in 576 regular season games.
Marner is eligible to sign a contract extension with the Maple Leafs on July 1.
Marner Says He Wants to Remain in Toronto
Following the Maple Leafs being eliminated in the first round of the Boston Bruins, Marner spoke to the media and said he wants to remain with Toronto.
Marner was born and raised in the Greater Toronto Area, so getting to play for his hometown team has been social for him.
“That’d be a goal. I’ve expressed my love for this place. Obviously, I’ve grown up here so we’ll start thinking about that now and try to figure something out. It means the world (to be a Maple Leaf), we’re looked upon as, you know, kind of Gods here to be honest,” Marner said to the media on May 6.
“It’s something that you really appreciate and the love that you get here from this fanbase and this tension is kind of not unlike any other. You saw it with the Raptors a couple of years ago, the love that they still have for a lot of those players that they had to trade off this year. And that’s kind of the love you want,” Marner added.
Marner was drafted fourth overall by the Maple Leafs in the 2015 NHL draft.
Maple Leafs GM Not Paying Attention to Marner Rumors
Entering the NHL offseason, Marner has been the subject of plenty of trade rumors, and several mock trades.
However, Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving spoke to the media and said he isn’t paying attention to the rumors around Marner.
Brad Treliving on how he manages all of the Mitch Marner rumours: “I’d caution us to not pay too much attention to some of the noise. We can’t react to all of the noise. … Mitch knows how I feel about him as a player.”
“I’d caution us to not pay too much attention to some of the noise. We can’t react to all of the noise. … Mitch knows how I feel about him as a player,” Treliving said to the media, according to Chris Johnston.
Marner is set to make $10.9 million in the 2024-25 NHL season.
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Insider: Maple Leafs ‘Preparing’ to Make an Offer to Re-Sign $65 Million Forward