Simple

Is the worry that on a 4 year contract that takes him to UFA that he'll walk and sign elsewhere?
Or is it the optics of not buying up any of his UFA years?
I get either of those issues but I think Marner wants to be a Leaf for life and Matthews will be gone after his final year (or earlier) so Dubas shouldn't be worried about signing Marner to a 4 year deal.

Not a Leafs fan but that's just how I see it.

The worry is that if he is being this difficult now, then when he has no restrictions he will want a ridiculous amount and if the leafs don’t pay it someone else will, and as for Matthews dipping in 5 years I don’t see that happening unless the leafs fall off or ARZ Suddenly becomes a contender because while it’s nice to go home it is even nicer to win

Great Post which makes total sense.

Marner the Magician is a franchise player for the Leafs and his deal is going to get done like the rest of the RFA's on other teams who also have not signed yet. Leaf fans and Marner himself are going to be very happy when his deal is done as he is going to be the face of the franchise for the long-term (ie Greater than 5 Years). Marner is also going to make alot of money from endorsements in Toronto as the corporate community also want to sign the Magician to endorsement deals once he signs his contract with the Leafs.

Gotcha, I think he'll be a Leaf for life, well most of his life anyway but I get the point about being difficult, big money offers from other teams, etc.

I didn't necessarily mean that Matthews would want to go home but the Coyotes have been building a pretty decent team actually that's really been derailed by injuries the last couple of seasons so given the ages of their core and where they'll likely be in 5 seasons it's fairly safe to say adding Matthews would make them a contender in the 2025-26 season.

I didn’t mean to say ARZ is bad but for thews to leave TOR I think they’d have to be just as good as the leafs which I don’t see that happening, but then again a lot can happen if 5 years so who knows, I just think all the Matthews wanting to leave rumours never had any substance other than that he didn’t like Babcock but the odds are Babs won’t even be here in 5 years lol