Toronto Maple Leafs end Mitch Marner saga with six-year deal
After threats of a holdout, the Toronto Maple Leafs and RFA forward Mitch Marner have put an end to their drama via a six-year deal.
The summer has been dominated by the Toronto Maple Leafs and their saga with Mitch Marner. Negotiations were all over the place. It got ugly and there was even a threat of Marner playing overseas at one point. But none of it matters now because the Leafs have reportedly signed him to a six-year deal.
This report comes from Elliotte Friedman. Freidman initially did not say anything about the cap hit, but TSN’s Darren Dreger has the cap hit. It will reportedly be just short of $11 million a year. This means Marner will not be beating Auston Matthews deal, which pays him over $11.5 million a year.
Friedman has the cap hit. It’s at $10.893 million. In the words of Frodo from Lord of The Rings – “it is done”. Leafs fans can relax now that the off-the-ice drama is over. Marner can get back on the ice and focus on hockey.
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Ultimately, this isn’t a good deal for the Maple Leafs. They had to overpay Marner by at least $1 million per year. This gives him the seventh-richest contract in the NHL. It’s also the second-highest among wings. Only Artemi Panarin ($11.642 million) has a higher cap hit.
This puts the Leafs in even further cap hell than they were before. They’ll have minimal cap space for this season. And after this season, the Leafs have just 12 players under contract and a shade over $15 million to keep the gang together, though that’s before a potential raising of the salary cap.
Of course, if there’s a lockout after the 2019-20 season, it might create a higher cap ceiling. But still, as great as Marner is, he’s not the second-best wing in the NHL. He’s barely in the top five if that.
The pressure will be on Marner to produce because the Leafs are paying him like he’s an elite wing. Playing with John Tavares should help him keep up his production from last season. However, the Leafs are now committing well over $30 million combined between Tavares, Marner, and Matthews. That’s not ideal.
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How Marner does in his first few years will determine how this contract is viewed. But right now, it’s looking like this is likely an overpay for the Leafs.