Elliotte Friedman Reveals Maple Leafs Targeted One Key Golden Knights Player in Marner Trade Talks

All indications point toward Marner testing the open market starting on July 1, and he'll have no shortage of options to choose from, especially after scoring a new career-best 102 points (27G, 75A) for the Leafs this year.

There have already been reports in recent months that Marner vetoed a trade to the Carolina Hurricanes that would have landed Toronto Mikko Rantanen in return, and now, a new report from a top NHL analyst indicates that there were discussions to send Marner to the Western Conference.

Per Elliotte Friedman on his latest '32 Thoughts' podcast, there were talks between the Maple Leafs and Vegas Golden Knights about a Marner trade involving defenseman Shea Theodore, but Vegas wasn't willing to give him up.

There's a lot of rumors about Marner and Vegas...I do believe on some level last year that the Maple Leafs and Vegas talked about a trade and this was last summer at some point. I think Vegas was interested in Marner and Toronto talked to them...nobody has ever confirmed it. And I think there were two reasons it never even got close. Number one, I think Toronto was interested in Shea Theodore, and as the Golden Knights proved, they were not interested in trading him.

The second thing, I just think there was no guarantee that Marner at that time would agree to anything. While I do think that the two teams talked about it and Vegas had some interest, I don't think it was ever, ever realistic because of those two reasons.

The Golden Knights have been listed as a team that Marner could potentially join this summer.