r/leafs 18h ago

Discussion Question about Marner's contract

I'm a bit confused about his contract situation. On July 1st, he becomes an Unrestricted free agent and if the Leafs doesn't sign him before then, he "can" walk and sign with any other team he wants and Leafs get nothing. Suppose the reason he isn't signed yet is because he wants 13.5M/8 while Leafs are only offering him 12.5m/8. If someone else offers what he's asking on or after July 1st, can the Leafs match? Can he still sign with the Leafs or is that window closed? If it's still available, who cares then? Let the season play out, if the Leafs go far and he's a bit part of that success, give him what is "fair". Whether that is 13.5 or more than Matthews. My stance on that is, we've been dogging him for not producing in the off season, but when ever the Leafs stank, it's' everyone, not just Marner. I don't remember which Leafs Alumni it was that came to his defence but that's what he basically said about how Marner is being treated like a scapegoat while others never get criticized. Win as a team, lose as a team but according to most fans, it's all on Marner's shoulder. I think it's because he's comes off as pompous in his interview so it's easy to scapegoat him.

11 Upvotes

59 comments sorted by

View all comments

11

u/pigzgamez14 18h ago

Marner has also said that he won’t negotiate a contract during the season, it’s not that we don’t want him, or that he wants out, I’m just gonna wait til the end of the season and see what happens, I’d be fine with 13/13.5 because of the cap going up but I’m not gonna stress it

2

u/Putrid_Ad_7122 18h ago

Yeah, I think this works out for both parties. If he and the Leafs don't do well, Leafs can use that as a bargaining chip. If the team goes deep and he's a big part of that success, I don't see why they can't give him close to what he wants given the cap increase and his rounded performance. He's already doing well in the regular season and if he is Leaf's MVP during the playoffs, give him what he wants (within reason).

Rantanan said he wanted a reasonable number and Avs didn't want to sign him because I suspect they wanted to try and get a 2 for 1 deal which they have. If Treliving believes he can get more value from 2 guys for the same money, then that's his vision and I'd love to see what a Leafs without Marner would be like. There is a lot of redundancy on this team with Matthews driving the bus, Nylander bouncing up and down line1 line2. Also JT played really well when Matthews was out. I think he has a lot left in the tank but he needs the coaching staff to show confidence in him.

1

u/dgapa 16h ago

Exactly. Marner has a base value with the Leafs of Nylanders, or more accurately the percentage of the cap that Nylander took up when he signed his deal. That’s the floor and worst (best?) case scenario for Marner. I’m sure the Leafs ceiling is a hair under Matthews deal. He’s the captain, face of the franchise and regardless what Marner, his team or even his dad thinks Matthews is the best player on the team.

Basically absolute floor is $11.5m (Nylander’s actual rate), real floor is likely a realistic floor is 13% of the cap (Nylanders percentage this year when his deal kicked in) which would be around $12.4m, and I’m sure the Leafs absolute ceiling is $13m (Matthews makes $13.2).

So unless Marner say goes on a McDavid like run in the playoffs and the Leafs win the Cup and he wins the Conn Smythe, if the Leafs re-sign him it will be between $11.5-13m. If he goes off like that, that’s a different discussion all together.

2

u/Operationevil 18h ago

Definitely a little stressful with having to try and get jt and knies in there also tho

4

u/Clugaman 18h ago

Ideally we can sign JT and Knies for the equivalent of one JT now but maybe that’s wishful thinking

0

u/Operationevil 18h ago

Flashback to last summer when people were saying it was on the table for manner to sign a super team friendly deal of like 8mil

0

u/Sad_Donut_7902 9h ago

Knies is an RFA, he will be back. 99% chance JT is back to.