News: Mitch Marner Contract Mega-Thread (mod warning post 990)

[CanadienShark]

The guy has been thier best and most consistent player for probably over a full calendar year now. He drives his own line and he runs and is the architect for the entire PP1. It’s far from outlandish for them to feel he should be at or near their highest paid player.

What are you talking about? That has nothing to do with my point.

This will not end well... and I am pretty sure Marner is not on board with publicly insulting the team and his best friends new contract.

And with the Toronto media.... oh boy

Yep. Agreed. It's not an issue if he feels this way privately, even expresses it to the team privately, but for his representative to come out like this... Not good.

 

[Bertuzzzi44]

Marner will be a better player than Matthews IMO. Leafs would be smart to lock him up long term. 8 years at 12 million per year should do it.

 

[karnige]

I love Marner, but he should be ashamed his representative pulled something like that. He insulted the organization and his teammates for no reason, and now Marner will probably have to answer for it

who cares. the leafs are low balling the heartbeat of the leafs. he deserves 10+ if matthews is getting almost 12. he led the leafs in scoring last year and currently is this year. if the leafs dont like it then pay the man. what were they thinking? he'll take a discount? piss on that

 

[DanM]

What are you talking about? That has nothing to do with my point.



Yep. Agreed. It's not an issue if he feels this way privately, even expresses it to the team privately, but for his representative to come out like this... Not good.

Fully agreed. The public part is a big no no.

Just a brain dead move

 

[CanadienShark]

Fully agreed. The public part is a big no no.

Just a brain dead move

And to people claiming it's "just a negotiation tactic"...

Well quite simply, it's a bad one.

 

[JetsFan815]

It's one thing to feel or to express those wishes in private contract discussions. It's quite another to give inflammatory quotes on the record criticizing the team, immediately creating a toxic distraction for his client. Especially considering he's told everyone he won't negotiate during the season. That is outlandish. Ferris comes off as incredibly unprofessional.

Worse is that he did it on the day Matthews was signed, knowing fully well that this kind of quote is going to set ablaze the LeafsNation/media and probably cast a shadow on the Matthews signing. I was watching an interview with Dubas and the guy was just trying to tell TSN to let fans enjoy the Matthews signing before harping on the Marner thing. He must be pissed that Marner's agent threw water over all of that and didn't even let him have his moment in the sun for negotiating the Matthews deal. Comes across as very petty on part of Marner's agent.

When I saw the quotes, at first I thought Alan Walsh was Marner's agent.

When I saw the tweet, I thought the agent for sure must have been Walsh or Overhardt. I was legit shocked to see it wasn't one of those two clowns.

 

[LeafMaple]

Make sure we get him signed, should be getting as much as Matthews contract considering Matthews contract was a highway robbery

 

[BleedBlue14]

Nine times out of ten 4 firsts don’t bring you back a Marner caliber player.

They could bring you two, but you’d have to be lucky with striking gold, which is rarer than not with draft picks.

I will agree with you. But given that Toronto is a pretty hit destination for UFAs I think they could potentially recover and actually be better off for it.

 

[DanM]

And to people claiming it's "just a negotiation tactic"...

Well quite simply, it's a bad one.

Terrible one, and no respect for anybody or anything by doing it that way.

Setting my obvious love for my team aside, I would never want these kind of tactics used in any negotiation, with any team. Just really bad optics.

I still can't believe he did this, just no thought process behind it.

I would honestly not be surprised if Mitch removed him as an agent.

 

[AvsFan29]

Make sure we get him signed, should be getting as much as Matthews contract considering Matthews contract was a highway robbery

How is Matthews contact "highway robbery"? Matthews got everything he wanted lol

 

[CrypTic]

This doesn't seem that bad to me. Everything Ferris says is exactly what you'd expect him to say, though probably not publicly with the NHL. If Matthews had signed for a discount, he'd be talking about how there's more money for Marner now and using other players as comparables. Now he can use Matthews as well so he's doing so. Players' agents are almost always going to say that teams are lowballing their client and teams will scream how unreasonable the player's expectations are or how unyielding their asks are.

I don't read it as a criticism of Dubas, the Leafs, or Matthews. It seems like typical bargaining IMO. But this is the NHL and usually both parties are pretty quiet with the media. They leak to other ppl who leak it to the media. I'm sure the Leafs won't be happy about Ferris trying to get the public involved but I doubt it affects things much.

 

[TomasHertlsRooster]

I love Marner, but he should be ashamed his representative pulled something like that. He insulted the organization and his teammates for no reason, and now Marner will probably have to answer for it

I agree on all counts. This is not cool of the agent and not cool on Marner if he okay’d it. (Judging by what I’ve seen from him, Marner is a class act and I doubt he did.)

Having said that, you have to wonder what Dubas and the Leafs’ organization did to make Marner’s camp feel this way. I’ve never seen anything like this come out of an agent’s mouth before and I think it’s fair to assume that somebody’s feelings were recently hurt.

I also think it’s fair to suspect that this wouldn’t be happening if Dubas were more experienced and a better negotiator. I’ll just say that I highly doubt Marner’s agent would be playing these kind of games with Lou Lamoriello.

As a 21 year old hockey analytics nerd who dreams of being an executive one day, I think it’s pretty obvious that things like experience and seniority are still very valuable. Dubas is probably a strong analytical mind, but he is getting taken advantage of here.

 

[TheAngryHank]

Then did the Leafs move to Ottawa ?

 

[FissionFire]

If the Leafs let Marner walk they’d be utterly stupid to spend that money on Panarin/Point/ Laine/any forward. With a gift of 4 1sts and a huge salary chunk to fill they can finally round out their roster with a stud dman via trade line a Doughty. Only possible reason to not match and keep Marner would be reallocating cap to defense.

 

[hector morrison]

As if the picks aren't juicy enough,the Leafs get to spend the money on other players. I don't ever see a team being desperate enough to follow through with this.It's a lot to pay and give up.Plus, he has to want to go there.

 

[izzy]

toronto f***ed up big time giving matthews the best contract in the league when they have a star player waiting on his own contract

 

[96]

Ferris has been a smug pos since the negotiation process started

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

I agree on all counts. This is not cool of the agent and not cool on Marner if he okay’d it. (Judging by what I’ve seen from him, Marner is a class act and I doubt he did.)

Having said that, you have to wonder what Dubas and the Leafs’ organization did to make Marner’s camp feel this way. I’ve never seen anything like this come out of an agent’s mouth before and I think it’s fair to assume that somebody’s feelings were recently hurt.

I also think it’s fair to suspect that this wouldn’t be happening if Dubas were more experienced and a better negotiator. I’ll just say that I highly doubt Marner’s agent would be playing these kind of games with Lou Lamoriello.

As a 21 year old hockey analytics nerd who dreams of being an executive one day, I think it’s pretty obvious that things like experience and seniority are still very valuable. Dubas is probably a strong analytical mind, but he is getting taken advantage of here.

Yeah, I'm kind of curious what the "lowball offers" were, for Ferris to make a public statement about it like this. Are we talking like Marner wanting $10 million and the Leafs offering $9 million? Or is the gap wider where the Leafs were offering him Nylander money?

 

[DanM]

Yeah, I'm kind of curious what the "lowball offers" were, for Ferris to make a public statement about it like this. Are we talking like Marner wanting $10 million and the Leafs offering $9 million? Or is the gap wider where the Leafs were offering him Nylander money?

Same, I am super curious. I mean he is worth somewhere between Kuch and Pasta, but this whole 11-12m per year is crazy, he is not McDavid lol plus he is a winger, and with 30 games left, he has only 63pts.

To put it into perspective, Pasta has 64pts, and Kuch has 82 I believe lol

 

[Chimpradamus]

toronto ****ed up big time giving matthews the best contract in the league when they have a star player waiting on his own contract

Toronto's problems started when they signed Tavares for $11m+/y, when all of their star players were up for re-signings. Leafs fans can only hope it doesn't end with Marner sitting out half the season as Nylander did, because of lowballing offers.

Having close to $40m bound up in four players is a very top heavy team.

 

[Plural]

Why do this publicly?

 

[The Sweetness]

Stupid move on the agents part IMO and if I’m Marner I’d consider firing him.

The reason I say this is that I don’t think saying this publicly is a smart negotiating tactic. It risks making negotiations with Dubas personal if he wants to show he won’t be bullied into caving to an agent.

Instead of letting fans enjoy the Matthews signing he of course steals attention from this and also throws shade at Matthew which won’t be popular in the dressing room or with the fans.

Marner’s agent managed to possibly upset/provoke management, the locker room and possibly even fans with this statement.

With all this said, I think Marner is a fantastic player and should get paid big time but he deserves an top tier agent as well.

 

[jonlin]

Yeah? everything under 12 is lowballing?

Pasternak is 1 point behind? Kuch is also a winger who will finish 1st in scoring, so I think anything under 12 is a bit off...

I`d rather look at the team where Marner plays now for comparables.If Dubas pay :

Matthews 11,6M
Tavares 11M
Nylander 7M

How can you say Marner is worth a dime below 11,5M?

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Same, I am super curious. I mean he is worth somewhere between Kuch and Pasta, but this whole 11-12m per year is crazy, he is not McDavid lol plus he is a winger, and with 30 games left, he has only 63pts.

To put it into perspective, Pasta has 64pts, and Kuch has 82 I believe lol

I think Dubas kind of set the bar though with those Matthews and Tavares deals. I know there are comparables around the league making less than $10 million, but the two most comparable on his own team (in terms of importance and production this year) are both making $11 million or more.

That's why I'm curious exactly what the offers are. Because if Marner's camp wants somewhere close to Matthews money, but the Leafs are offering him similar to Nylander money, that might be what Ferris is referring to. However, if they're offering him anywhere $9 million or above, then I think Ferris is over-blowing it with "lowball offers".

 

[DanM]

I`d rather look at the team where Marner plays now for comparables.If Dubas pay :

Matthews 11,6M
Tavares 11M
Nylander 7M

How can you say Marner is worth a dime below 11,5M?

I get what you are saying, but you don't think every UFA will look at AM's contract?

Comparables are not just on your team, it is a league wide thing.

AM is a C and MM is a wing.

Also, MM is not leading the team in points if Matty is never injured the last two years, but that's not really the point. What if our team had McDavid, Sid, and Malkin, do we use them as comparable contracts? or would we use Pasta who is a winger and close in points?

I just think using other players not on your team is fine. Because I would bet my house if we had 3 players making 7m, and Mitch's agent seen a player on another team making 9m and closer to what Mitch is doing, he is using the 9m dollar player as a comparable.