Nope

Marner settles for at most $10.5M for 6 years, fair deal for both sides. & you have Kapanen and Johnsson mixed up. Kapanen gets the bridge deal of 2 years between $2.5M-$3M and Johnsson probably gets more years and higher AAV. Johnsson took the 1 year deal this year to bet on himself and its paid off. He's also older and will become a UFA sooner so his contract will buy out UFA years which cost most. I could see Johnsson around 3-4 years at like $3.25M which is pretty fair

Random question is marners possible marketability unlimited money with a successful leaf team, ie leaf contract 9.25 they win a cup or lifetime leaf, face of products and advertisements unlimited money. Wouldn’t the companies be falling all over themselves and 2 million ish left on the table maybe difference in success, or am I way off, basically take the best team friendly deal offered and keep golden boy image and catch your dough on the advertising side, easier said than done, but could be rather lucrative leaving the dough on the table

I see what your saying the media will be the problem. They will start saying why was he the only one to take a discount when the rest didn't and he could be the best forward.

how about we trade both pylons for A) a defenseman B) sign another real good UFA. I rather have Ennis at 1M. Anyone can play with Mathews. Mathews needs Nylander or Marner not Kap and Johnsson.

Marner's star can definitely shine bright in Toronto for the rest of his life. Hometown kid, high skill, high effort, big offensive numbers, and big personality are all things that will make this market fall in love with him over his career. If they win a cup....that will only cement his status as a lifelong icon. Doug Gilmour is still revered in this city and he never won anything and he's still involved in advertising campaigns and marketing events.

But I don't think he'll leave $2m/year on the table. I'm sure athletes love the endorsement deals they can sign, but I wonder how much they actually enjoy the work/acting/public appearances that go along with being the face of a campaign. For us peons....would we accept less money from an employer because having them on our resume will make it more likely we can land a part time job on the weekends?

Endorsements may play a small factor...but IMO, not enough to take a huge pay cut.

The other concept is the idea of Legacy....being revered for the rest of your life for the things you were able to accomplish while wearing a leaf jersey. I think that can definitely make a player more flexible in negotiations (and/or less likely to get lured by offer sheets)...but I think you want to feel like you're still getting a fair deal when compared to your peers.

My thought is if he takes the discount now, if he comes in with a injury riddled off year, he wouldn’t get hammered near as hard, kinda fly under the radar of Mathews and Tavares, and still cash in on lucrative endorsements. I imagine he wants max money for what he does on the ice though and the respect of that, I could see him lose a ton though if his image is tarnished in anyway, with a change in city or holdout

I think every player in a cap league is going to get compared against the salary he makes.

When Nylander held out for more money and took 1.5 months to get his legs back under him, everyone was ready to ship him out. Now there's a lot of people (myself included) who think he'll be one of the better bargains on this team moving forward.

Zaitsev is a decent defenceman. His reputation is absolutely tarnished on here because the leafs need cap space and he's not exactly playing like a $4.5m player. If he was doing everything he's doing right now...but putting up 40pts like it looked he'd be capable of after his first year...no one would be complaining about him. But between the offensive numbers falling off, his $4.5 cap hit (and term), and the leafs' cap crunch...all the sudden people think he's a brutal defender. Alternatively, if he was at $3.5m no one would care.

So I agree...if Marner holds out for 8 figures and has an off year I think fans and media will be quick to turn on him