Mitch Marner to blame

Mitch Marner loves Toronto. How can you blame him? Just under 10 years ago, the kid from Markham was drafted by his boyhood club. Since then, he’s scored 741 in 657 games with the Maple Leafs logo on his jersey. In a world where athletes often have little regard for where they live, the 28-year-old forward has never lived further than London, 2 hours 15 minutes from home.

Someone who doesn’t know hockey would read that paragraph and imagine a great love story. Lol. Nope.

Mitch Marner negotiated a no-trade clause, and nobody can blame him for that. As a result, for the past three years, until July 1, 2025, the Maple Leafs haven’t been able to trade him without his consent.

Brad Treliving tried to do it at the last deadline. Toronto could have acquired Mikko Rantanen, who has 9 goals and 10 assists in 11 playoff games this year. Marner, on the other hand, would have gone to Carolina.

And he said no. With good reason, you might say.

Who wants to play in Carolina? Not Rantanen, anyway.

As the Maple Leafs find themselves on the brink of collapse after a pathetic performance in a pivotal game against the Stanley Cup champions…

Mitch Marner’s spin-o-rama pass to the wrong team ends up in the Leafs net pic.twitter.com/8P23kzkzDf

– The Hockey News (@TheHockeyNews) May 15, 2025

It’s obvious to me that Mitch Marner’s love for Toronto will eventually kill the Maple Leafs. Do you know what I mean?

Every off-season following a resounding playoff failure, it can be argued that Marner should theoretically have been the one traded, from a hockey point of view, to shake things up and get a nice value on the trade market.

He never wanted to. He loves Toronto so much, he’ll end up killing his childhood team.

Mitch Marner’s legacy in Toronto is gonna be blocking a trade for Mikko Rantanen. I am broken inside

– Stephen (@DTSB_98) May 15, 2025

There’s no denying it in Toronto: IT’S NOT WORKING. Whatever the reason, whoever the culprit: IT ‘S NOT WORKING.

And the Maple Leafs GM’s worst enemy in any quest for improvement… is Mitch Marner. A guy who refuses to leave Ontario, probably to the detriment of his club’s chances of winning a championship. Does he think he’s not the problem?

If Marner ends up leaving the organization for free this summer, and turning down the Hurricanes’ deal was more a way of giving themselves more options, and some leverage in future negotiations, it will be a disaster for the Leafs, who won’t have been able to benefit from his market value.

Even if they were to trade his negotiating rights for a pick, it would be nothing short of catastrophic. And let’s face it, Jake Guentzel’s rights cost the Lightning a third-round pick last summer.

But do you know what’s worse?

If Mitch Marner were to sign a new $12-13 million contract in Toronto, and inevitably get another no-trade clause… I’m not sure it wouldn’t be catastrophic for the franchise. And I think the fans would be delighted.

The reality is that a general manager in Toronto is handcuffed with a player of enormous value. What do you expect him to do?

Some might blame Brendan Shanahan, who gave him the no-movement clause, and fired Kyle Dubas when it looked like Dubas was going to trade Marner before the clause took effect. I’d understand, up to a point. You can’t have one without the other.

Some will refuse to blame Mitch Marner, who may have been right to believe it.

I’ll tell you that the result is the same.

Extension

Leafs star has good playoff stats. Until you realize that his production in games #1 to #4 (52 points in 44 games) is incomparable to his production in games #5 to #7 (10 points in 24 games).

The story is told from two perspectives, and the more important one is far from rosy.