{"id":459038,"date":"2024-12-20T09:00:16","date_gmt":"2024-12-20T14:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=459038"},"modified":"2024-12-20T00:09:02","modified_gmt":"2024-12-20T05:09:02","slug":"nhl-rumours-contract-negotiations-will-heighten-with-toronto-maple-leafs-leading-scorer-soon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2024\/12\/20\/nhl-rumours-contract-negotiations-will-heighten-with-toronto-maple-leafs-leading-scorer-soon\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Rumours: Contract Negotiations Will Heighten With Toronto Maple Leafs Leading Scorer Soon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to another edition of NHL Rumours<\/a>. The Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> front office has some big and expensive tasks at hand that need to be completed before July 1. That includes re-signing three pending free agents. Two are unrestricted free agents and one is a restricted free agent. The RFA is 22-year-old Matthew Knies<\/a>, his entry-level contract expires at the end of the season<\/a>. Former Leafs captain<\/a>, John Tavares<\/a> will become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season and also requires a new contract<\/a>. The Mississauga native signed a seven-year, $77M contract<\/a> with Toronto in 2018. There’s one final big name that will require some negotiating from general manager Brad Treliving and president Brendan Shanahan<\/a>. That big name is Mitch Marner<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After playing out a six-year contract with Toronto, it’s time for Shanahan and Treliving to offer Marner<\/a> a new deal. This will be the third straight season where the Leafs make a big-money signing. Last year, it was William Nylander<\/a>, who earned an eight-year contract at $11.5M AAV<\/a>. The season before that, it was three-time Rocket Richard Trophy winner Auston Matthews<\/a>. Matthews<\/a> scored himself a four-year deal<\/a> that made him the richest player in the league at the time, earning $13.25M per season. Matthews’ record was trumped by Edmonton Oilers<\/a>‘ Leon Draisaitl<\/a>, who inked an eight-year, $14M<\/a> deal that kicks in next season<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Unravelling Marner’s Contract Dispute<\/h2>\n

On Thursday, TSN’s Darren Dreger reported an update on Marner’s contract situation. The Maple Leafs’ front office and Marner’s agent, Darren Ferris<\/a> have been in regular dialogue regarding Marner<\/a> and his contract. However, up to this point, there are many details still to be ironed out before both parties get close to an agreement. Nevertheless, as the new year approaches, Dreger believes that discussions between the club and Marner’s camp will be more direct and purposeful. Though it’s still early in the season, it’s critical to get a grip on situations such as a superstar pending free agency.<\/p>\n

Last season, Nylander was in an identical situation to Marner. Nylander went into the last year of his contract without a deal on the table. There were many rumours during the offseason of the Swede<\/a>‘s contract year and how he could’ve been traded. However, despite the pressure to perform, he surpassed expectations. Ultimately, he signed a new deal with Toronto on Jan. 8<\/a>. It turned out to be a great deal for both sides and now Nylander<\/a> is one of the best wingers in the league.<\/p>\n

Blocking Out the Noise<\/h3>\n

Ahead of this season, the Leafs held a preseason press conference for players, coaches, and other staff. Marner was called to the table to answer questions and before any reporters could ask a question, he spoke up. The 27-year-old said he didn’t want to discuss anything on the topic of his expiring contract. Instead, he wanted to focus on hockey and his performance. Even when Treliving or Shanahan were asked about the contract, they didn’t give much to the reporters. They also agreed with Marner’s approach to keep discussions under the radar.<\/p>\n

So far, that method has worked for Marner and the Maple Leafs<\/a>. The right-winger is on his way to having the best season of his career. He’s on pace to score over 100 points this season, something he’s never achieved in his eight years as an NHL player. The Markham, Ont. native has 42 points in 32 games played in this campaign. With that, the playmaker averages an assist per game with 32 on the year. He also has 16 multi-point performances this season, at one point he led the league in that category. Marner leads the Maple Leafs in scoring and is floating around the league’s top 10 point-getters.<\/p>\n

Main Photo Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome to another edition of NHL Rumours. The Toronto Maple Leafs front office has some big and expensive tasks at hand that need to be completed before July 1. That includes re-signing three pending free agents. Two are unrestricted free agents and one is a restricted free agent. The RFA is 22-year-old Matthew Knies, his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5141,"featured_media":459045,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18,4547,34,4548,4321],"tags":[228,1594,1456,499,229,5868,5951,6127,230],"class_list":["post-459038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-leafs","category-hockey","category-news","category-nhl","category-rumours","tag-auston-matthews","tag-brad-treliving","tag-brendan-shanahan","tag-john-tavares","tag-mitch-marner","tag-toronto-maple-leafs-analysis","tag-toronto-maple-leafs-news","tag-toronto-maple-leafs-rumours","tag-william-nylander"],"modified_by":"Andre Leal","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5141"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459038"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459038\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":459046,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459038\/revisions\/459046"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}