TSN’s Darren Dreger was a guest on First Up and got into a conversation about Mitch Marner’s current situation in Toronto. Despite all of the talk of an offseason trade and with rumors floating around seemingly everywhere, Dreger seems to believe that the Maple Leafs are as likely to sign Marner as they are to trade Marner.
Reporting Marner’s preference is to play out the remaining year on his current contract, he wonders if Marner is with Toronto to start next season and the conversation shifts to an extension. Considering the cries for change among Leafs Nation, it will be intriguing to see how that news settles with the fan base.
Not only are some fans eager to see Marner leave, but many are as concerned about his leverage in trade talks and how he holds the hammer if he doesn’t want to be moved. Dreger isn’t sure that an unsigned Marner guarantees the forward will leave at the end of that season. Of course, it’s a risk for the Maple Leafs to let that deal expire without an extension in place, but the team doesn’t want to mess up a trade and they’re not sure they even want to move Marner.
Dreger said, “And are we so sure Toronto doesn’t want to extend Mitch? I’m not. I think Treliving would rather extend [Marner] than trade. But they’re not having those discussions yet either. It’s still early, it’s very premature across the board.”
A Marner Trade Is Not Off the Table
Dreger admits there could still be a scenario where a trade is a possibility. The chatter will continue this summer and for good reason.
He explained:
“Now, if Brad Treliving has a conversation with a club or clubs, and there’s a potential trade scenario that develops from those conversations, yeah, he could take that to the Marner camp. And the Marner camp could say, ‘Yep, alright, you obviously don’t want me, so I’m okay with that. And by the way, there’s a big extension that comes with it? Okay, yeah, fine.”
