He definitely shouldn't. If he actually thinks he is better than the best 5v5 scorer over the past three years then he can leave or sign an offer sheet. Leafs hold all the cards in the negotiation, it's whether or not they will fold and overpay him massively.

I see what you did here. He wants more than Matthews. If you honestly think Marner is about to become the second highest paid player in the entire NHL you're insane.

Whatever the case is, they'll sign him to whatever he wants. You can't let a player like him just walk like that.

His dad did say though that he should be the highest paid player on the team.

His dad is a moron. Like look at it objectively for a second. Center's get paid more than wingers. That's a fact across the entire NHL. And goal scorers get paid more than playmakers. That's a fact across the entire NHL as well. Marner is not a center, nor is he a goal scorer. Honestly he should be signed for somewhere between 8 and 9.5. Now I know that isn't going to happen. He is going to get massively overpaid. And I love Marner but as a winger who only scores 20-30 a season, he is simply not worth more than that.

If Marner gets anything close to that, the Leafs should fire Kyle Dubas. Dubas has already proved twice, first with Nylander and then with Matthews, that he is NOT a very good negotiator.

For 4 1sts your damn right you can

That's the thing though, he doesn't just "walk" he's an RFA. Now it's his decision, does he want to sign an offer-sheet to play for another team, get traded or sit out the rest of the season. Either way the Leafs get or keep a valuable asset.

Keep in mind the Leafs was his favourite team growing up. I think he wants to play for them for the rest of his career.

Vancouver laughs and hangs up the phone

Not by the looks of it. If he wanted to play for the leafs so badly, he would've been signed by now.

I don't think that's the case. It's his dad and his agent holding up the talks. Personally I don't think he wants Matthews money, he just wants to play at a reasonable price.

So it's his dad, not Mitch that we should be blaming?

Bingo.

Everyone knows his dad is a moron. Have you heard the things he's said about Mitch awhile back?

No I haven't actually. I would love to hear some

His dad said something like, "It drives our family nuts when we hear you guys all talk about who should be the captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Mitch never hardly gets any consideration.” He is also the one, alongside his agent, saying if the Leafs don't give him Matthews money, he will look to sign an offersheet elsewhere.

Damn

Its true, we know Marlies small type reporter guys who have been saying this for years we would have this problem, mainly because they know about his father. I still blame Marner though, he is an adult now

I kind of agree. Yes, Mitch should have a say in what he wants but at the end of the day, he is paying for an agent to make those decisions for him

Anything more than Pat Kanes money from his entry deal is overpayment. This is the only way you negotiate deals is comparables, thats the actual market. His 6.3 x 5 year deal is about 9.1 mil over 5 in now cap numbers, so 9.5-10 over 6 - 7 years is acceptable. Not ideal but average. If his ego to want to be at Matthews money gets in the way as much as I LOVE the player, Marner has to go. The damage will be done in many ways if he is overpaid.

I agree, and since when does he get to pick his comparables? Matthews is a centre, he is a winger. Matthews played with AJ and KK, Mitch had JT (no disrespect to the both of them but JT is a step above). Matthews is a goal scorer, Mitch is a playmaker. They are literally two different types of players. His comparables are as you said, Pat Kane and/or Kuch. Anything over is bad business from the Leafs side.

I love when Leafs fans use Kuch as a comparable to Marner because all they do is shoot their own argument in the foot with that comparison... Kuch went on record that he too significantly less money to stay in Tampa because A) Florida has no state tax and B) He wanted Tampa to be able to keep the current team together to make multiple cup runs.

One could argue Marner should do the same on point B, but let’s face it, Toronto is in much worse shape than Tampa. Also factor in that Marner is now being asked to take a discount because Toronto signed a player they didn’t need last offseason in Tavares, so perhaps he feels that money should have been his and rightfully so.

But more importantly is the Tax argument, 9.5m goes much further in FL than in Toronto. So, if you’re using Kuch as a comparable to Marner, then you have to factor in tax as well. Which pits Marner right around d that 10.5m-11.5m to account for the tax difference. So, basically you all just argued that Marner, by comparable, is worth 11-11.5m!