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

[Tatar Shots]

They are going to match. You don’t let a Marner level player go for future draft picks. Match the offer sheet and then trade Nylander or Kadri.

 

[ffh]

Ask yourself this

Pasta has more points
Point has more points
Kuch has WAY more points
Rantanan has WAY more points
Kane has more points
Wheeler has more points

Pasta is signed for under 7, and Kuch is at 9.5. In what world is Marner worth 11-12, or even 10?

I would venture to say that Dubas has no issue paying him 9m per year, and that is NOT a discount, like AM and Willy who also didn't take one.

And this is business

in a world where marner is a better hockey player than Matthews and Matthews just signs for 11.6 aav. this is all on dubas too since he overpaid for Tavares nylander and Matthews.

 

[The Winter Soldier]

Dubas played soft ball with Nylander and Matthews giving into team unfriendly contracts. He made his bed starting with the Nylander contract.

He can't play hard ball with Marner now, or not according to Ferris.

Marner is going to get paid, or he will go to July 1, and I believe there is a real possibility of Marner signing an offer sheet unless the Leafs offer similar money to Matthews. Based on Marner's production this year in a show me contract year where he bet on himself. He has a strong case.

“So far they’ve been trying to lowball (Marner),” agent Darren Ferris told the Toronto Star‘s Dave Feschuk Tuesday. “That’s the reason we’ve come to this point.Nobody else is taking a discount. And now you’re asking (Marner) to take one again? It’s nonsense,” Ferris told the Star. “Mitch already did them a favour on the entry-level deal.”

 

[Liferleafer]

Another Marner offersheet thread,? Nice!! Must mean Marner isn't a 4th line bust??

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

Shoddy management by Dooby Doo.

From the outside it looks like these agents don't respect him. This kind of public airing of negotiations is almost unheard of.

 

[Liferleafer]

Take the picks

Offer sheet Laine with Marner's money

Aho....offersheet Aho witb Marner's money.

 

[Zerotonine]

And this is even more proof that Marner will wait for an offer sheet of the leafs don't give him what he wants.

And given this news it looks like he wants every bit as much as Matthews if not more.....

 

[devils29]

I hope someone offersheets him, I just hope it isn’t us

 

[sparxx87]

Didn’t the agent say no in season negotiations?

If he wants anything more than 10 I’m not interested. If that’s the case, I hope he signs an offer sheet for 11-12 and the Leafs happily take the 4 1st rounders.

 

[Brunomics]

Why all the nasty business talk now midseason? All the pens deals for Crosby/Malkin/Letang were always done in June/July with zero fuss.

Because this is what happens when you have a 30 something year old with minimal negotiating experience try to sign his top tier players.

Big difference between being a wonder kid assembling rosters and actual contract negotiations.

To me he's worth more than Mathews. But you can probably give Marner the same deal and he would accept it I would think.

 

[HTFN]

From the outside it looks like these agents don't respect him. This kind of public airing of negotiations is almost unheard of.

Would you? I mean, I just can't help but see where the agent has a pretty good point here. They go public about wanting to see discounts across the board to keep this great young core together, but one holdout and one coup later, if I were Marner's agent I'd be pretty pissed that they left him "holding the bag", to mix metaphors, and just expect him to fit in with what's left by playing hardball.

If the play for the Leafs is to negotiate a draft-ish day trade to make the space then that seems like something you'd communicate, and unfortunately leave negotiations in traction until then. I might not have the longest memory, but it seems like the first public shot fired was the plea for team discounts.

 

[sparxx87]

From the outside it looks like these agents don't respect him. This kind of public airing of negotiations is almost unheard of.

That’s exactly it.

He’s created a hell of a storm for Mitch to answer to now. Incredibly unprofessional and he’s gone back on his word.

Agents are like used car salesmen. They’re almost always slimy.

 

[FourRings]

Best case scenario for the Leafs is to deal or have Marner sign an OS. They need to use that cap space to address depth/defense. Letting Marner go an signing Stone/Panarin puts them in the same position of being over-invested in FWDs.

 

[crackdown44]

Aho....offersheet Aho witb Marner's money.

Carolina replies by offersheeting Tkachuk with Aho’s money to get back at Calgary for the trade this summer

Calgary in turn offersheets Calgary native Brayden Point to get back at Tampa for the 2004 cup final (it was in)

 

[Eat The Rich]

Pasta, Kuch, and Wheeler just signed.

Also, Matty missed over 20 games last year, and what...15 this year. Plays C, has more responsibility, and has an edge in almost every metric.

This is not close, they are not comparable.

Marner led this team in scoring because AM was hurt. If healthy, this is a laughable comparison.

It's also funny you bring up comparables on his own team. Did people not bring up McDavids contract when discussing AM? do you think Willy didn't look at Drai?

Comparable contracts are not limited to your team. You can be damn sure if a more expensive comparable was located outside the Leafs roster, the players would be all over it for leverage.

The bar for wingers is set with Kuch at 9.5, everyone else can fall into place. I am sure he can be replaced if he is looking for 11m a damn year lol 1.5m more than a 100pt winger and Hart candidate.

Trust me, I've tried making this point, but it doesn't matter. Kyle Dubas and the Toronto Maple Leafs are the reason why RFA players are overpaid now. That's how the story will go until the next lockout.

Totally ignoring the contracts given out to other players in the same age group last season.

 

[Nizdizzle]

I hope Dubas explores what Marner could return in a trade. Need to take a hard-line stance against these players that are taking a hard-line in contract negotiating. Being a player-friendly GM is one thing, but sometimes you need to be cut throat. These comments seem unprofessional by Marner's agent to me at least, especially considering they've said they want to leave negotiating until the offsesason.

I think the Leafs are a better team in the next 5 years if they get a bad teams 4 1st rounders and then sign someone like Stone/Panarin as UFA or offersheet Keller/Point/Laine/Boesser...etc

 

[nbwingsfan]

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...

Kucherov has also been a much better player than Matthews the last two years but that didn't stop the Leafs from giving him $2M more for 3 years less...

Also Marner is better than his own teammate Tavares who's at $11M

 

[The Winter Soldier]

From the outside it looks like these agents don't respect him. This kind of public airing of negotiations is almost unheard of.

I think Ferris did a smart thing here. Let's not forget Dubas gave a sound bite earlier in the day. I said this yesterday, everytime Dubas opens his mouth, he is giving more ammo to agents.



What Ferris did was let Dubas know not so subtly if he wants to back up the statement above. He has to ante up. It may be he sees weakness in Dubas with the Nylander and Matthews deals, and he is just upping the pressure. Marner bet on himself this year, this won't affect him on the ice. He's 6-8 pts clear in the lead on the Leafs for scoring. He's doing what he has to, for Ferris to show him the money. But Dubas brought this on himself to some extent by making negotiation mistakes by continually making promises. This is why GM's are better to not say anything than to keep giving sound bites where agents can turn against them. Ferris did this cleverly yesterday.

 

[HTFN]

That’s exactly it.

He’s created a hell of a storm for Mitch to answer to now. Incredibly unprofessional and he’s gone back on his word.

Agents are like used car salesmen. They’re almost always slimy.

I think you're mistaken.

A.) Marner was very likely informed, wouldn't even surprise me if they had a few different plans depending on how Matthews' negotiations shook out. An aggressive plan for if Matthews won big, and some softer plays for if
B.) Players have a real easy out for this type of thing: "I'm just going to focus on my game, and playing hockey, and let that stuff sort itself out". You've circled around the truth in your own post: agents are like heatsinks for hate so that players don't have to suffer extensive abuse from their own fans/media. As long as this stays in the normal realm and timeline and doesn't go into holdout territory a lot of this blowback should avoid Marner in time.
C.) Realistically the blowback shouldn't be on Marner anyway, and trying to pin it there is a pro-Leafs move. Not speaking to you and your post, specifically, but more about how this will unfold and be interpreted going forward.

 

[Albus Dumbledore]

It's a wierd time for contracts

Cap is rising steadily
Super rookies/sohpmores/young players coming left and right
Large contracts for players with a lot of potential who have played a high level but are still being payed a lot for what they "can still do".

Sigh. I just hope for marners contract he sees his comparables and will take a comparable deal.

But his agent seems like a dick so who knows. Nylander had a very fair contract. Could have gone up or down a bit and I'd be fine. Matthews was meh, I'd lean for player friendly but he took the shorter contract for the teams sake.

 

[LeafChief]

Oh no! An agent trying to get his client more money!

Bah gawd!

 

[Rec T]

(not reading the whole thread so it's probably already been pointed out...but) Isn't that the job of the team, to get players to play for as little as possible? Much like it's the job of the agent to ask for the moon & 51% ownership in the organization. Things tend to settle somewhere in the middle.

Bad/stupid timing by the agent though

 

[CanadienShark]

How? The organization has been walking a tightrope all year with contracts, if anyone is feeling the heat it's the Leafs.

If you weren't tainted by Leaf bias you could see this brewing from a mile away. From the captaincy statements, from his dad's talks, to him not wanting to talk contract throughout the year, Marner isn't happy and in some ways I don't blame the guy. If they really are trying to offer him 9 or something good on his agent for calling this out. Dubas made his bed, lay in it.

How does anything I said convey any bias against the Leafs?

 

[sparxx87]

I think you're mistaken.

A.) Marner was very likely informed, wouldn't even surprise me if they had a few different plans depending on how Matthews' negotiations shook out. An aggressive plan for if Matthews won big, and some softer plays for if
B.) Players have a real easy out for this type of thing: "I'm just going to focus on my game, and playing hockey, and let that stuff sort itself out". You've circled around the truth in your own post: agents are like heatsinks for hate so that players don't have to suffer extensive abuse from their own fans/media. As long as this stays in the normal realm and timeline and doesn't go into holdout territory a lot of this blowback should avoid Marner in time.
C.) Realistically the blowback shouldn't be on Marner anyway, and trying to pin it there is a pro-Leafs move. Not speaking to you and your post, specifically, but more about how this will unfold and be interpreted going forward.

Good post, but it’s important to consider the difference between Toronto and everywhere else. There’s no escaping it in Toronto for not only the exposure, but the volume of media.

Marner’s gonna have a loooong morning today.

 

[doublechili]

I don't think Marner has anything to worry about.