Marner's future has been a hot topic this offseason, but what hasn't been debated about the player among his peers is his star power.
It's more and more like Mitch Marner and the Toronto Maple Leafs are willing to be patient when it comes to deciding on the superstar's future beyond the 2024-25 season.
Marner has been working out in Vail, Colorado with Colorado Avalanche forward and Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby. While doing the rounds during the NHL's media tour on Tuesday in Henderson, Nevada, MacKinnon spoke to reporters including The Hockey News' Michael Traikos.
“I think Marner got a lot of flak. He’s one of the best players in the league," Mackinnon said. "Toronto, I definitely feel for them.”
Marner is an unrestricted free agent. After the Maple Leafs bowed out in the first round of the 2023 NHL playoffs, the Leafs made some changes. They fired head coach Sheldon Keefe and replaced him with Craig Berube. They also named Auston Matthews the team's 26th captain in franchise history. But their core forwards, which include Matthews, Marner, William Nylander and John Tavares, remain intact.
With Marner and Tavares set to become unrestricted free agents at the end of the upcoming season, speculation ran rampant about Marner's short-term future with the Maple Leafs. It began in the days after the Leafs were eliminated from the postseason when Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving stated that they would look at everything.
As the summer continued, Treliving also made it a point to say they weren't going to make a move just for the sake of making a change.
During the latest edition of 32 Thoughts, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman spoke on Marner who said he's heard that Marner has "looked dynamite" skating with MacKinnon and Crosby.
Training camp is set to open next week with Marner's immediate future sure to be the No. 1 storyline heading in. Especially now that Nick Robertson ended his stalemate with the Maple Leafs and signed a one-year, $875,000 deal with the club on Tuesday.
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